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Infectious Diseases
I am pleased to report that the incidence of infectious disease was low
There were five cases of poliomyelitis as compared with fourteen in 1959, but
no deaths resulted There were 520 measles notifications, the lowest since 1940
with the exception of the year 1954, and for the ninth year running there were
no deaths from this disease
Tuberculosis notifications were 209 pulmonary and 15 non-pulmonary, a total
of 224, which is the lowest in any one year since 1939 and probably the lowest
ever recorded in the Borough Moreover, 67 of the 224 notifications were transfers
from other districts, which means that although they are recorded in St>
Pancras as notifications they were in fact persons who had contracted the disease
prior to moving into the Borough
Out of the total of 224 notifications, only 32 were in young persons under
the age of 20 The largest number (131) were of persons between the< agesof 20-44
years and 61 were of persons over the age of 45 years.
Tube rculosis is no longer primarily a disease of young people and an increasing
number of young persons are being inoculated against it. This, together with
the discovery of drugs which can cure patients of the disease, has so improved
the prospects of conquering tuberculosis that one can look forward to the not
too distant time when the number of notifications of new cases will be in single
figures, not the hundreds they have been for so many years
75 visits were paid by members of the Public Health Department to persons
who had been in contact with a case( of small pox The patient concerned had
travelled by air from the Par East and was staying in a neighbouring borough.
The speed of air travel makes it only too easy for persons to arrive in this
country during the incubation period of small pox I would like to emphasize
the importance of everyone being vaccinated against this disease
General Practitioners
I have continued throughout the year to send to the medical practitioners
of the Borough a weekly statement of the number of cases of notified infectious
disease and including notes on any aspects of the health of the Borough that are
of particular interest at the time
These weekly bulletins help in the co-operation between the Public Health
Department and the family doctor which continues on the happiest lines I am
grateful for this friendly relationship for it is an essential factor in achieving
our mutual object of maintaining a good standard of health for the citizens of
St Pancras
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