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2 REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR 1962
being only two deaths in 1962 from diseases of pregnancy or child
birth, giving a maternal mortality rate of 0.31.
With the exception of problems arising from the importation of
smallpox into the country, which I will deal with more fully below,
1962 was not a particularly notable year so far as infectious diseases
were concerned. It was a "non-measles" year, the number of cases of
measles being 691 compared with 4,912 in 1961. In the latter year
there had been a reduction in the number of cases of scarlet fever
from 172 to 107 and in 1962 this figure was almost unchanged at 109.
Similarly, 1961 had shown a considerable reduction in the number of
cases of whooping cough from the previous year and this was further
reduced to 54 in 1962. No deaths arose from whooping cough or
from measles.
Of the 12 cases of poliomyelitis reported, two only, after investigation,
were confirmed as cases of the illness compared with three in
the previous year; one of these cases having some residual paralysis.
The position as regards tuberculosis was little changed, there being
192 primary notifications compared with 193 in the previous year.
In all, 320 cases of tuberculosis came to our notice compared with
352 in 1961 and of these 126 were transferred from other Authorities.
There were 27 deaths from tuberculosis compared with 30 in 1961.
Towards the end of 1961, smallpox was once again imported into
this country as the result on this occasion of the arrival by air of
infected immigrants from Pakistan. The four main foci of the illness
were in parts of London, the Midlands, the North and South Wales
and although no clinical case of the disease arose in Wandsworth, a
considerable amount of work devolved on the Health Department in
common with most other public health departments in the country,
especially those in populous areas. When smallpox is known to be
present in the country, particular vigilance is paid to the early
diagnosis of the disease and so we had an increased number of
requests from local practitioners to see patients who it was thought
might have smallpox. In addition, the greatly increased number of
vaccinations which were performed at this time was associated with
a number of unusual skin eruptions. In some of the more puzzling
and difficult cases we, in turn, called in Dr. McEntee, the infectious
disease consultant at St. George's Hospital, Tooting, and I should
like to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks and appreciation
to Dr. McEntee for the ready and willing help he afforded us at
this time. In addition to the requests to see doubtful cases, a considerable
effort involved the daily surveillance of persons who had
been in contact with one of the cases of smallpox and we were also
notified by the Ministry of Health of travellers arriving from Pakistan
and who were staying in Wandsworth; these were also kept under
surveillance. Another problem, although not directly a matter for the
Council, with which we had to deal was the large number of requests
for vaccination. Few subjects in medicine and public health engender
as much heated discussion as vaccination against smallpox. This has