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63
Diphtheria and Diphtheria Immunisation.
Once again I am thankful to be able to report a complete
absence of this disease from our community. The immunisation
campaign against this illness appears to have been wonderfully
successful in the past, but with the development of immunisation
procedures against other diseases, and the publicity given them,
it is sincerely to be hoped that no one will forget to have their
children immunised against a disease which has not yet been
stamped out of the country entirely and could still give rise to a
serious epidemic if proper precautions are not taken.
The present position with regard to immunisation against this
disease is summarised in the following figures which have been
furnished by the County Medical Officer.
Of the children resident in the area who were born since 1942,
a total of 1,235 received primary inoculations and 1,917 received
re-inforcing inoculations during 1956.
A total of 16,452 children under the age of 15 years have
completed a course of immunisation at some time prior to
31st December, 1956.
Dysentery.
This is a condition which is causing a good deal more trouble
than formerly. One hundred and sixty-eight cases were notified
during the year as against eighteen last year, but only three were
sufficiently severe to need hospital treatment. Generally speaking,
the illness is of a mild character and a great number must
inevitably never receive any medical attention, this, combined with
the fact that in an outbreak there always appear to be a large
number of symptomless carriers, makes control by ordinary public
health measures extremely difficult as there must always be so
many unsuspected sources of infection. An exhortation to hand
cleanliness is probably the best single piece of advice than can be
given in our efforts to eradicate this very annoying complaint.
Food Poisoning.
In all, 34 cases of suspected food poisoning were notified, as
against 13 in the previous year. After full investigation, only 14
could be confirmed and in most of these cases the organism
causing the illness was not detected. A number of patients believed
to have food poisoning were found to be suffering from dysentery.
In a town of this size it is difficult to believe that this condition
was so limited in numbers, despite the increase compared with
the previous year, and one would like to think that such was
indeed the case, but it would only be self deception not to
acknowledge that there must in reality have been many more