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INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Hornsey suffered no epidemic during 1960 and no deaths occurred
from notifiable infectious diseases.
Forty cases of scarlet fever occurred; all made uneventful
recoveries. There was some increase in whooping cough, 114 cases
were notified comparing with 46 in 1959. Other notifications
included 29 cases of acute pneumonia, 10 of erysipelas, 7 of puerperal
pyrexia and 2 of meningococcal infection. No special comment is
called for on these cases.
Poliomyelitis Two cases of poliomyelitis occurred, both paralytic.
One was a schoolboy of 5 years, who was admitted
to hospital after being unwell for 10 days at home; he developed
weakness of the lower limbs. In hospital poliovirus type 3 was
isolated from his stools. He was discharged after approximately
10 weeks and on examination less than 3 weeks afterwards it was
found that he had a slight residual weakness in the muscle of the left
thigh, absence of knee jerk and a slight foot drop in the same leg.
He was able to walk briskly and to return to normal schooling.
The other case was a married woman of 25 years, who had paralysis
of her palate, pharynx and the right side of her face. Poliovirus
(type 1) was isolated and the final diagnosis was polio-encephalitis.
On discharge from hospital after less than 5 weeks the facial weakness
had begun to improve and it was thought likely to clear completely.
Neither patient had been vaccinated against poliomyelitis.
Food Poisoning During the year general practitioners notified 16
cases of food poisoning; four other cases were found
during investigation. One proved fatal.
A small outbreak involved two families in one house, and a
family outbreak affected two boys. In addition there were 15 single
cases, the causal organisms being identified in eight of them as
follows:- Salmonella typhi murium - 3; salmonella cholerae-suis - 1;
salmonella Newport - 1; salmonella enteriditis - 3.
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