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I should particularly like to draw your attention to the preliminary
results of our investigations into "combined" whooping cough and
diphtheria immunization reported on page 48.
Malaria
You will no doubt be curious to know more about these two
notifications. Both were in respect of the same individual—a member
of the Services who suffered two relapses of an infection contracted
whilst in the Far East.
Poliomyelitis
Fortunately no case of polio developed in 1954—possibly one of
the minor blessings of the very poor "summer" weather. The results
of the trials of polio vaccine being carried out in America will be
anxiously awaited, and—if a safe and effective vaccine becomes
available—I have no doubt that there will be a heavy demand for
this from parents.
Diphtheria
This year we came dangerously near to having our first case
since 1949. A swab taken from a child with a sore throat grew
diphtheria germs but these were later shown to be of a mild and
relatively harmless type, and he was diagnosed as suffering from an
ordinary tonsillitis. Swabs which had in the meantime been taken
from other members of the family were all reported as "negative".
As I said last year the present generation of parents have no
experience of this ghastly disease and they are becoming apathetic
about immunization. They are keen to have the whooping cough
injections, however, and we thus feel that our results using the
combined" method are of practical importance.
Infective Hepatitis
Towards the end of March one or two general practitioners
informed me that they were meeting cases of infective hepatitis
epidemic jaundice) in the Ripple Road area. Infective hepatitis is
not, unfortunately, a notifiable disease in Barking, but I immediately
asked all doctors in the Borough to let me have an unofficial notification
of such cases.
Enquiries revealed that there had been four cases in the Becontree
area during the matter months of 1953, but no connection could be
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