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Practice, and then for the next three years in the combined office of Hon. Secretary and Treasurer.
From 1953 to 1957 he was the Hon. Treasurer and he has been our Chairman since that date. He
has always shown great interest in the work of the Association and has been most punctilious in his
attendance at our Meetings. We are sorry indeed to lose this keen member and wish him well in
the future.
The Past Year.
We are happy to record that no infringements of the Code of Practice by members have been
reported by the public. The Annual General Meeting in May was again very poorly attended and
this was very disappointing to those Officers of the Association who had made all the necessary
arrangements."
SECTION F.—INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES—PREVALENCE
AND CONTROL
There was again a decrease in the number of cases of infectious disease reported in the Borough,
430 notifications being received as against 456 in the previous year. Of the total, measles accounted
for 250 cases, the figure for 1958 being 246, and the expected bi-annual increase in the incidence of
this disease did not become apparent. There were no serious outbreaks of any of the notifiable diseases
and incidence of these, though generally slightly lower, remained remarkably similar to that of the
previous year. For the eleventh successive year there was no diphtheria and despite the hot and dry
summer there was only one case of poliomyelitis. Table 25, page 39, gives details of notifications
and the age groups concerned.
Tuberculosis.
Table 25, page 39, gives information regarding primary notifications of pulmonary and non-pulmonary
tuberculosis received during the year. Table 26, page 39, shows the age and sex distribution of new
cases and of deaths from all forms of the disease, and Table 27, page 40, sets out the number of cases
on the Tuberculosis Register at the beginning and end of the year with details of the adjustments
made in respect of new cases, transfers, deaths inwards and outwards and removals due to cases cured
and deceased.
Enquiries into housing and sanitary conditions involved 162 visits by one of the women public
health inspectors to all new cases and those moving into the Borough from other areas.
Mass Miniature Radiography.
The Unit continued to work in the borough from time to time, mainly by way of closed surveys,
but public sessions were also held. The results of this work are shown in Table 28, page 40.
In November the Unit started a new scheme for two sessions, one in the afternoon and one in the
evening, to be held weekly at a static site in the borough for the radiographical examination of individual
members of the public and for patients sent by general practitioners. This service has made a satisfactory
start and the general practitioners are gradually making increased use of it.
Food Poisoning.
Ten cases of food poisoning were notified during the year. Seven of these were single sporadic cases
in which the agents responsible were not discovered. The other three notifications were in respect
of persons living in St. Marylebone who were suffering from food poisoning associated with separate
minor outbreaks. In one of these a woman aged 69 years was removed to hospital with a diagnosis
of acute dysentry. She was also said to be dehydrated and in a state of collapse. The following day
the hospital reported a diagnosis of food poisoning and that meat was suspected. Unfortunately she
died five days later the cause of death being given as " acute gastro-enteritis due to salmonella
Newport (food poisoning) " and the Coroner recorded a verdict of " accidental death." Investigations
failed to trace the source of infection but some of the people living in the same house on other floors
were found to have been suffering from diarrhoea. Stools of all these residents were examined and
three were found to yield the same organism namely, salmonella (Newport), one being a child
who showed no symptoms. All responded to treatment. In another of these minor outbreaks of food
poisoning the causal organism was identified as salmonella typhi murium but in the third the agent
responsible was not discovered.