View report page

142
SECTION F
Prevalence of, and Control over, Infectious
and Other Diseases
The current year was one of note if only for the emergency
measures introduced as a result of an outbreak of smallpox in
England and Wales between December 1961 and April 1962.
During this period Britain was receiving a number of immigrants
from Pakistan who, on their way, had passed through Karachi
which at that time was suffering from a smallpox epidemic. Five
of these travellers who arrived at London airport on different days
developed variola major, two of whom eventually died, one at
St. Pancras and the other at Bradford. Subsequently, sixty-two
indigenous cases were notified and, of these, a further twenty-five
died.
For a number of years in my Report I have drawn attention
to the fall in the vaccinal state of the country as a whole and in
Greenwich in particular, now that vaccination is no longer compulsory.
The continued need for vaccination is more than ever
necessary in these days of high speed travel between the United
Kingdom and areas where smallpox is endemic. This was never
more exemplified than in the early months of 1962 when an
outbreak of smallpox precipitated an insistent and often unreasonable demand for vaccination from a public who had consistently
"cold shouldered" efforts of local authorities to increase acceptance
of vaccination especially in the very young.
Although no actual case of smallpox arose in Greenwich, at
the time of the first reports, certain local precautionary measures
were taken. Stocks of vaccine lymph held in the department were
increased by a daily collection from the Public Health Laboratory
at Colindale. In addition, the four local hospitals were contacted
and arrangements were made for the vaccinal state of the staff
to be brought up to date. Further, considerable quantities of
vaccine were supplied from the department to the Miller, Seamen's
and St. Alfege's Hospitals and the general practitioners were
given vaccine to deal with their patients who were considered to be
at risk. Certain staff at the Town Hall and others of the Council's
establishments who were likely to be in close contact with the
general public were offered vaccination and at this stage some 100
had taken advantage of the facilities afforded by the department.
It transpired later that a case of smallpox at Woolwich had
been in an infectious state since the 15th January although
diagnosis had not been confirmed until the 25th of the same
month. This case had been on combined Civil Defence exercises