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Staff of Public Health Department.
5
permanent staff of clerks, all of whom are above military age,
left in the Department. There are also three Grade "D"
(female) clerks.
Twenty-five temporary clerks were employed in the
Department at the end of the year.
INFECTIVE DISEASES.
There has been a decrease in the amount of infective
disease during the year, the number of notifiable diseases
having dropped from 3,894 in the previous year to 2,573
Measles and Whooping Cough are mainly responsible for this
decrease. There were 330 cases of Measles reported, compared
with 1,058 in 1941, and 657 cases of Whooping Cough compared
with 1,122.
44 cases of Dysentery have been notified compared with
194 in the previous year; 30 of these occurred among the
inmates of two mental hospitals in the Borough; there were
three deaths.
Eight cases of Typhoid Fever and one of Para-typhoid
Fever were notified. Two of the former died.
22 cases of Cerebro-spinal Meningitis, with three deaths,
occurred compared with 75 and nine in the previous year.
525 cases of Scabies were treated at the Council's
Cleansing Station under the supervision of the trained nurse.
The majority of the cases are now treated by the benzyl
benzoate method.
BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS.
In accordance with a decision of the Council made in
November, 1941, cultures for suspected cases of Diphtheria
are now examined in the laboratory of the Tuberculosis
Dispensary, the preparation of the cultures being carried out
by Mr. Kitchen, the clerk and dispenser.
Examinations of a special nature are performed by the
Camberwell Research Laboratories
During the year 1,138 Diphtheria cultures, 1,027 specimens
of sputum and 29 miscellaneous cultures were examined
in the Dispensary laboratory. Seven specimens of blood
from suspected cases of Enteric Fever were examined by the
Camberwell Research Laboratories.