London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Islington 1961

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]

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16
Measles
The number of measles cases notified in 1961, 3,310, is the highest recorded in the
Borough for any one year. A sharp increase in the measles notifications began in October,
1960, and reached a peak in February, 1961, with nearly 900 notifications in this month
alone. It will be seen from the chart below that this measles outbreak was sustained at a
high level between October, 1960, and June, 1961, and Islington, in common with the rest
of London - and, in fact, the country - suffered the most extensive measles outbreak
experienced so far.
The great majority of cases were relatively mild and uncomplicated but approximately
80 were referred to hospital. Fortunately, in spite of the large number of measles cases
there was no instance in which measles led to a fatal issue.

The following table shows the age-groups of the notified cases during 1961:-

Under1-55 years and
1 yearupwards
No. of Notifications in 19611631,9311,216
Percentage of total Notifications4.958. 336.8
No. of Deaths