View report page

10
Infectious Disease
At the beginning of 1955 an outbreak of measles
occurred. The total number of cases notified was 1,028. Only 10
were reported as severe. On 6 occasions measles was complicated
by severe bronchitis, on 2 occasions with unduly severe
conjunctivitis and 2 further cases with otitis media. There were
no deaths and indeed looking at the figures for the past 10 years
death has only occurred once in 1946 and once in 1951. Of the
total number of 1,028 cases 37 were removed to hospital, i.e.
3.6 per cent. which is the lowest percentage for the past 10
years. Removal has very little relationship to the severity
of the attack; rather is it associated with adverse housing
conditions.
If a general practitioner wishes to prevent or
attenuate an attack of measles in a patient who has been in
direct contact with a case, he may apply to the Public Health
Laboratory Service for gammaglobulin. The use of gammaglobulin
is indicated to prevent measles in a very young child or in a
child already suffering with whooping cough or some other illness
to which the complication of measles might have serious results.
There was only one small outbreak of dysentery apart
from cases which occurred in individual households. This was in
a school and affected 9 people. The illness was very mild and
was soon brought under control. It occurred at the beginning
of the Easter holiday and one of the children who was a carrier
left for a school holiday the day after the faecal specimen was
collected. Unfortunately we were compelled to cut short this
girl's holiday and bring her home again.
The total number of food poisoning cases notified
was 56, an increase on the previous 5 years. Medical journals
regret that only in 60 per cent. of cases is the causative agent
discovered and suggest that this is due to late notification.
By the time the general practitioner is called in and has
notified the Medical Officer of Health all the suspected food
has been consumed or destroyed and very frequently the patient
has recovered. I am pleased to report that of the above 56
cases of food poisoning, in 45 instances the agent was identified
so that in Hampstead we have done very much better than in the
country at large. For this I am indebted to the speedy
investigations on the part of the staff of the Department.
Only 10 cases of food poisoning were removed to hospital,
which is an indication that the remainder were not severe.
There were no deaths.