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CONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Like all local Health Authorities, it is the policy of the London Borough of Bexley to
give the highest priority to prophylactic immunisation against diseases of infancy and childhood.
It is gratifying to see from the attached graph, that the incidence of the diseases is showing
a downward trend in the under-fives especially and children of school age generally. It needs
to be emphasised, however, that it becomes more important when a disease shows a downward
trend, that efforts to maintain this trend should be continued
There may be a sense ot false security developing in the community whereby this decrease
in the incidence of infectious diseases makes people complacent about taking advantage of the
protection given by immunisation. This is the reason why one has not only to keep
immunising procedures alive and active, but also explore the availability of further prophylactic
measures. Particular importance has been given to boosting children's immunity to polio and
tetanus before they leave school. Bexley figures compare favourably with the national figures
for all immunisations, and it is only lately that smallpox, because of the policy of the Department
of Health and Social Security, has ceased to be a major field of activity of health departments
except in an emergency situation.
In the ever-shrinking world of to-day, no part of the world should ever consider itself
free from the possibility of an epidemic, and one sees at various times of the year, fears of
the import of exotic diseases like cholera, smallpox and typhoid into this country. At present
the apprehension only rarely comes true, and it is due to intensive surveillance and case-finding
methods applied by Officers of the Health department that major outbreaks are prevented. But
the very fact that there is on occasion a great deal of alarm nationally, means that not only
surveillance but advice to the travelling public outside England and Wales, as well as immunisation
of those who are at risk, cannot be over-emphasised.
MEASLES
It is a fact, that but for measles immunisation, there would be many more cases of measles.
There were more cases of measles notified in the year 1971 (772) as against 1970 (459), reflecting
the biennial trend of measles. However, comfort can be derived from the fact that the general
trend is towards a decline in the number of cases of measles. Continuous and concerted efforts
have been made in the last few years to vaccinate as many children as possible across the Borough,
as can be seen from the fact that there were 2,000 + cases in 1967 as against 700 this year.
Letter CMO 18/71 from the Department of Health and Social Security drew attention to
the decrease in the prevalence of measles which stated that notifications in the six weeks ending
22nd October, in the whole of England and Wales ranged between 467 and 1,017 giving the lowest
weekly figures for more than twenty years. Had measles prevalence followed the natural pattern in
1968-71 there might well have been some 850,000 more cases with a consequential increased
number of deaths.
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