London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1964
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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- 61 -
Whooping Cough
Thirty-five cases were notified during the year - two being
treated in hospital.
International Certificates
In order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, certain
countries require that visitors should be vaccinated or inoculated against
specified diseases.
International certificates have been prescribed for smallpox,
yellow fever and cholera. When completed by the medical practitioner, the
certificates must be authenticated by the Medical Officer of Health.
During the year, 4,547 of these certificates were authenticated in
Kensington. In addition, 55 special exemption certificates were issued to
travellers for use in North America.
Notifications
The following tables show (l) the number of cases of infectious
disease notified during the year 1964 with comparative figures for the
previous seven years; (2) the number of notifications divided into age
groups; and (3) the number of cases notified in each ward of the borough:—
TABLE 1
| Notifiable disease | Number of cases notified | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 1963 | 1962 | 1961 | 1960 | 1959 | 1958 | 1957 | |
| Scarlet fever | 14 | 9 | 15 | 30 | 29 | 54 | 27 | 33 |
| Diphtheria (including membranous croup) | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Enteric fever | 7 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Puerperal pyrexia | 86 | 103 | 168 | 138 | 112 | 116 | 123 | |
| Acute primary pneumonia and acute influenzal | ||||||||
| pneumonia | 19 | 13 | 20 | 28 | 16 | 60 | 70 | 75 |
| dysentery | 31 | 36 | 57 | 97 | 71 | 110 | 117 | 77 |
| Erysipelas | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 7 |
| Meningococcal infection | 1 | 4 | - | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Malaria | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Acute poliomyelitis: | ||||||||
| Paralytic | - | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 13 |
| Non-paralytic | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Acute encephalitis | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Tuberculosis (all forms) | 117 | 151 | 160 | 195 | 164 | 194 | 179 | 208 |
| Measles | 378 | 944 | 269 | 1497 | 457 | 737 | 654 | 982 |
| Ophthalmia neonatorum | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| arteritis1 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 10 |
| Pood Poisoning | 40 | 31 | 18 | 42 | 40 | 65 | 47 | 52 |
| Scabies | 41 | 33 | 18 | 25 | 28 | 42 | 52 | 52 |
| Whooping cough | 35 | 79 | 22 | 30 | 154 | 83 | 92 | 130 |
| TOTALS | 782 | 1394 | 714 | 2150 | 1138 | 1489 | 1400 | 1781 |
* Notifiable only in children under the age of 5•
NOTE: Cases of mistaken diagnosis are excluded from
the above table.