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2 REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR 1955
there was a slight regression in 1955, a rate of 24.4 is still below that
for England and Wales which in 1955 was 24.9. There were four
deaths from causes associated with childbirth.
There was a very large increase in the number of cases of infectious
disease, namely 7,968. The main cause of this large increase was the
fact that 1955 was a "measles" year when we had over 5,000 cases of
this disease notified. The number of cases of measles per year in a
community tends to fluctuate in cycles; in 1954 for instance, there
were only 303 cases in all. Amongst these 5,000 cases of measles,
there were two deaths. During the year there was also an increase in
the number of cases of poliomyelitis as compared with the previous
year, there being in all 49 confirmed cases of this disease; one of
these cases died and 22 cases had some form of paralysis. There was
an increase in the number of food poisoning cases and further
reference is made to this in the body of the report. Tuberculosis,
which in recent years has been responding to preventive measures
and new methods of treatment was reduced; the total number of
cases of tuberculosis coming to our notice was 644 compared with
738 cases in the previous year. The number of deaths from respiratory
tuberculosis was 49 compared with 64 in 1954. As I mentioned
last year, a number of cases of notified tuberculosis are transferred
from other parts of London into this area in connection with the
new housing schemes which are in progress. It is a pleasure to report
that there were no confirmed cases of diphtheria in Wandsworth in
1955.
The standardized death rate, as mentioned above, in Wandsworth
in 1955 was 13.30 and there were in all 5,205 deaths, at all ages,
in Wandsworth during the year. The table on page 12 gives particulars
of the causes of deaths and the ages at which they occurred.
The group of diseases which caused the greatest number of deaths
was malignant neoplasms (generally referred to as cancer) which
caused 1,070 deaths, and diseases of the heart which caused 1,856
deaths. I will say no more here of deaths from cancer since, in
general, and with one possible exception, it is not thought that the
prevention of cancer is yet amenable to public health methods. Such
methods as are available are at the present time mainly educative.