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13
INFECTIOUS AND OTHER NOTIFIABLE DISEASES
Although this is the first complete year since the list of diseases in respect of which Medical
Officers of Health should be notified was revised by the Public Health (Infectious Diseases)
Regulations, 1968, the incidence of infectious disease in the City has, in general, remained low.
Notifications received (excluding tuberculosis) decreased from 671 in 1968 to 532 in 1969 of which
measles accounted for 321.
Table 4, page 68, gives details of notifications received and the age groups concerned.
Acute Poliomyelitis
Two notifications were received during the year. One notification related to a 38 year old man
who was admitted to hospital on arrival in this country from Nigeria, where he had been taken ill.
The other was in respect of a Westminster resident, a young woman of 19 years, who was admitted
to hospital a week after being unwell with muscular pains. The source of infection was not traced.
All close contacts remained well and fortunately both patients made a good recovery. No cases
occurred in Westminster during 1968.
Diphtheria and Smallpox
No cases of these diseases occurred in Westminster during 1 969.
Dysentery
Fifty-four notifications of dysentery were received compared with twenty-seven in the previous
year. The majority of the notifications were in respect of single unconnected cases, but during the
year under review there were minor outbreaks of Sonne Dysentery at two children's hospitals and
a junior school within the City, and also at one of the Children's Department's residential nurseries.
Infective Jaundice
Fifty-nine notifications of Infective Jaundice were received during 1969, the first full year since
the disease became notifiable.
Measles
It is interesting to note that measles did not follow the well established pattern, as although 1969
would normally have been an epidemic year, when the number of cases more than doubles, the
number of measles notifications only rose slightly from 253 in 1968 to 321. This striking diminution
in the incidence of the disease in an epidemic year would appear to be attributable at least in part to
the recent introduction of measles immunisation.
Paratyphoid and Typhoid Fever
The majority of the thirteen cases of these diseases notified during the year were instances of
infection occurring in persons returning from abroad who were admitted to hospital shortly after
arrival in this country. During the latter part of the year an outbreak of typhoid fever occurred amongst
passengers who disembarked from the S.S. Angelina Lauro at Southampton, the ship having
travelled from Australia via Capetown and Teneriffe. As a result it was necessary for the Public
Health Inspectors to keep under surveillance some twenty persons who were visiting or staying in
Westminster. Three of these persons were admitted to hospital and found to be suffering from the
disease. Fortunately, no secondary cases developed. There were only three cases of typhoid fever in
Westminster in 1968.
Tuberculosis
Table 4, page 68, gives information regarding primary notifications of pulmonary and nonpulmonary
tuberculosis received during the year, and Table 5, page 69, shows the age and sex
distribution of all new cases and deaths from all forms of the disease.
It will be seen from Table 5, page 69 that the total number of new cases which came to the knowledge
of the Medical Officer of Health during 1969 was almost unchanged.