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miscarriage. Previously the temperature had to be sustained for
24 hours before notification became necessary, and the period
originally was 3 weeks after childbirth or miscarriage.
In these circumstances, it is only to be expected that the
numbers notified under the new regulations will tend to increase.
(c) Parrots (Prohibition of Import) (Revocation) Regulations,
1951. During the year the Minister of Health introduced these
regulations in order to repeal the regulations of 1930 which prohibited,
subject to certain exceptions, the importation of birds of
the parrot species.
It is interesting to record that prior to 1930 there had been a
considerable number of cases of psittacosis in England and Wales
and it was thought that for the protection of the public health the
only method of controlling this disease would be to ban the importation
of parrots and like birds.
Recently it has been found that psittocosis is enzootic among
such birds as seagulls, pigeons, ducks, turkeys, etc., hence the
revocation of the original regulations.
The total number of Infectious Diseases notified under Section
192 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, and associated Orders
and Regulations was 2,143. Under the Public Health (Tuberculosis)
Regulations, 1930, there was 149 notifications, giving a consolidated
total of 2,292 cases notified during the year. In 26 of
these cases the diagnoses were not confirmed, thus giving a corrected
figure of 2,266. The following table indicates the figures for five
years:—
Year No. of corrected notifications
1946 1,691
1947 1,013
1948 1,671
1949 1,335
1950 1,644
5-year Average 1,471
1951 2,266
Particulars of age groups and districts affected arc shown in
the table at the end of the Report.