View report page

104
SECTION F
Prevalence of, and control over, infectious and
other Diseases
During the current year, no new Statutory Instruments were
issued in respect of Infectious Diseases.
Legislation introduced since 1949 in accordance with Section
144 of the Public Health Act, 1936, concerning the notification of
poliomyelitis, encephalitis, meningococcal meningitis, puerperal
pyrexia, etc., has led to the allocation to Greenwich of notifications
in respect of non-residents merely as the result of the accidental
location of hospitals in the vicinity.
Statistics in connection with these diseases therefore, have
no specific relevance to the population of the Borough and, with
the uninitiated, could even be misleading. (For example, a situation
can and does arise whereby Greenwich may show a death from poliomyelitis
and yet have no notification for the case.)
Irrespective of the area of occurrence, births and deaths are
always referred to the area of residence for statistical purposes and
it would be logical if notifications of infectious diseases were similarly
treated.
The total number of Infectious Diseases notified under Section
144 of the Public Health Act, 1936, Section 192 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1936, and associated Orders and Regulations
was 1,481. Under the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations,
1952, there were 80 notifications, giving a consolidated total of 1,561
cases notified during the year. In 3 of these cases the diagnoses
were not confirmed, thus giving a corrected figure of 1,558. The
following table indicates the figures for the previous ten years:—