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17
Typhoid.
One case of typhoid fever was notified during the year. It
occurred in a male aged47 who was employed by theborough council
as a sewerman. The course of the disease was uneventful, and no
signs of infection were found in other members of the family,
nor were any other cases reported-
Scabies.
There were 93 cases of scabies notified compared with 30 in
1955.
tancer.
There were 2,389 deaths in the borough from all causes, and
of these 481, or just over 20%, were due to cancer.
Of the 1,233 male deaths, 266 were due to cancer, and 215 of
the l,156 female deaths were attributable to the same cause.
The incidence of cancer has been gradually rising over many
years. Fifty years ago in Lambeth there were 294 deaths from
cancer in a population of nearly 316,000 a death rate of 0.94
per 1,000. In 1956 there were 481 deaths from cancer in a
population of 223,900 a death rate of 2.15 per 1,000.
Undoubtedly someof this increase isdue to improved diagnosis
and an ageing population. Nevertheless there would appearto have
been a real increase in the incidence of cancer over the past
fifty years, and it is likely that this is associated with the
changing environment and habits of individuals over that period.
Diseases of the Heart and Circulation.
The diseases responsible for the greatest proportion of deaths
are thoseofthe heart and circulation, lb some extent one would
expect this in an ageing population but one disturbing feature
is the toll which coronary thrombosis takes of those in the 4564
age group. Mortality figures do not show the whole picture as
deaths may be preceded by prolonged invalidian and someof those
deaths recorded in the older age groups may well have been
victims of the disease at a much earlier age. Coronary disease
is one of the so-called 'stress diseases' which have increased
over the past ten or twenty years. It appears to be associated
more with mental and psychological stress than with physical.