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Diphtheria—There was an outbreak of diphtheria localised in the north-west corner of
Camberwell occurring in mid-November. By the end of the year, five cases had been notified
and 67 positive carriers found and treated. A large-scale exercise in preventive medicine was
undertaken.
Immediately a case was notified to the borough council all contacts at home or at school
were listed and arrangements made for them to be swabbed. Those found to be positive
(i.e. carrying the organism) were referred to their general practitioner for admission to
hospital. Those found to be negative (i.e. free from the organism) were followed up until
regarded as 'clear usually as the result of two negative swabs. In many instances, mainly
with adults, follow-up and clearance was undertaken by the general practitioner. After
discharge from hospital, each child returned to school only after a further negative swab
result had been obtained. The first case, a girl aged 9, was admitted to hospital on 21 November.
Her family were swabbed and found to be clear. Her class at St. Joseph's school was
swabbed twice, on 23 and 25 November, and all pupils were clear. No further action was
called for.
The other four cases were all pupils of St. George's primary school—a boy aged 5
admitted to hospital on 21 November and a girl aged 11, her brother aged 8, and a boy
aged 5 admitted to hospital originally as carriers and subsequently notified from there as
having developed diphtheria. Two of these children had been immunised, the last dates
being in 1953 and 1954 respectively.
The home contacts of the diphtheria cases were swabbed and in due course were found
to be clear. Commencing on 24 November all pupils at St. George's school, including
absentees, were systematically swabbed. The first two visits yielded 25 carriers, including a
teacher and a kitchen worker. The contacts of these carriers were then sought out for
swabbing and clearance. A 'chain-reaction' was established and a further 15 carriers
resulted. Children from St. Michael's, Brunswick Park and Gloucester Grove schools
were involved, and their classes were duly swabbed. Special immunisation sessions were
held at St. George's and St. Michael's schools for children found to be swab negative and
there were increased attendances by adults and children at all the immunisation sessions at
centres in the borough. This outbreak called for a concentration of effort by the Council's
staff and close co-operation with other workers in the public health field. Daily association
with the Borough Medical Officer of Health was maintained and family doctors were
brought in as their patients were affected, either as cases or carriers, with excellent results.
Frequent consultation took place with the county medical officer of health, the director
of the bacteriological laboratory, and the heads of the schools concerned.
DIVISION 8, comprising the boroughs of Bermondsey, Lambeth and Southwark
Dr. W. H. S. Wallace reports:
Maternity and child welfare—Attendances at the maternity and child welfare clinics have
been approximately the same as in 1958 and the birth rate has remained steady. Some rearrangement
of districts has made it possible to discontinue some smaller infant welfare
sessions held in unsatisfactory premises. The sessions closed were at Crossway Mission
and Bermondsey Gospel Mission.
Hospital beds for mothers whose homes are unsuitable for confinement have become
much more readily obtainable, although some difficulty still remains. Lambeth hospital
maternity unit has been particularly helpful in making provision for nearly all mothers in
need of a hospital bed on social grounds.
Day nurseries—The demand for day nursery accommodation has continued to diminish.
The average daily attendance at nurseries in the division during the year was 594, compared
with 658 in 1958. The Coral Street nursery has been transferred from an old prefabricated
building to a new permanent building only a short distance away and re-named 'The Coral
Nursery.'
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