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(including in this latter category travellers, students or
immigrants arriving in this country from abroad). The value of
such routine activities, and food safety and food hygiene should
not be overlooked in this regard, undertaken by the staff of the
Health Department - albeit a silent service so far as the great
majority of the public is concerned - is hard to overestimate.
Rich tribute is due to Dr. Fleck and his colleagues at the Public
Health Laboratory at St. George's Hospital, Tooting, for their
ever-ready assistance and advice; no fewer than 2,275 specimens
were examined bacteriologically in 1972.
Similar recognition of the sterling work undertaken at the
three Chest Clinics in the Borough in relation to diseases of the
chest generally with particular reference to tuberculosis is
equally appropriate and in this regard I welcome the opportunity
to express the warm thanks of the Department to Dr. Anderson,
the Physician in charge of the Balham Chest Clinic at St. James'
Hospital, who retired at the beginning of March after many years
of distinguished service to the local community; he was
succeeded by Dr. Millard. The continued help and advice of
Dr.Citron and his colleagues at the Battersea and Wandsworth
Chest Clinics is also greatly appreciated. Full details of the
work of the Chest Clinics — in which the prophylaxis of
pulmonary tuberculosis through the medium of B.C.G.
vaccination of susceptible children looms large - and of the
voluntary support given by the Battersea and Wandsworth Care
Committees are given in the body of the Report.
Where feasible and desirable, by far the most satisfactory
protection against serious communicable diseases is provided by
active immunization unless as mentioned in my Annual Report for
1971 the position has been reached as in the case of smallpox
where the occasional adverse effects of routine vaccination in
infancy and early childhood outweigh the risk of developing the
disease in this country. Accordingly, to encourage a healthy
state of immunity against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus,
poliomyelitis, german measles and tuberculosis, a revised
routine schedule of immunization procedures - conforming to the
recommendations of the Department of Health and Social Security
and designed to synchronise (as far as early childhood is
concerned) with the timing generally recognised as appropriate
for periodic developmental paediatric assessment examinations —
was introduced early in the year. This change inevitably affected
the overall immunization statistics for 1972 and another year
must elapse before the success of the new schedule can be
judged. Nonetheless the decline of a third in the number of