View report page

12
The notification of measles served a useful purpose in
the past but its discontinuance is worthy of some study. In the
same way the notification of puerperal pyrexia gives misleading
figures and the pyrexia which it denotes may in fact have no
relation to childbirth. Some modification of the definition is
called for if the notification is to serve the purpose for which it
was intended.
A table setting out the notifications of the various diseases
is included in the statistical section but several diseases call
for some additional comment.
Smallpox
A man who arrived at London Airport from the Far East
in October. I960, presented himself at the Casualty Department
of a London Hospital two days after his arrival and was found to
be suffering from smallpox. A number of Hampstead residents
who had been in contact with the patient including some whose
contact was at the Hospital were kept under surveillance and
vaccination or re-vaccination was carried out on those who had
not been recently protected. Fortunately no secondary cases
occurred in Hampstead.
Members of the staff of the Public Health Department
are particularly liable to come into contact with any case of
smallpox which occurs in the Borough and they were re-vaccinated
during the year.
Diphtheria
A case of diphtheria occurred in a young man who was
living in a large block of flats owned by the Council. The
patient had been immunised as a child and was not seriously
ill. Unfortunately the case was not notified until almost three
weeks after the onset of the disease by which time the patient
who had been living at home had recovered.
In view of the considerable contact that the patient had
had with other residents of the flats including a large number
of children, it was decided that a fairly wide scale investigation
was called for. Nose and throat swabs were taken
from almost 200 persons who were living in the block of flats