View report page

sputa of cases or suspected cases of this disease, 47 specimens being
examined for this purpose in 1947.
The County Council is responsible for the treatment of cases and
the examination of contacts, sanatorium accommodation and dispensaries
being provided for the purpose. The majority of home visitation
is undertaken by their Health Visitor appointed specifically for this
purpose. The appointment of Care Almoners has also been of great
help to the patients and to the Voluntary Care Committee, which, supported
by very substantial contributions from the County Council, does
very useful work in helping in many varied ways individual cases and
their relatives.
PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1936, SECTION 172.
PUBLIC HEALTH (PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS)
REGULATIONS, 1926.
No action has been required under these powers during recent years.
NON-NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
The group of non-notifiable infectious diseases accounts for very
few deaths, with the exception of influenza, to which 3 deaths were
attributed in 1947.
There were no deaths in children under two years of age from
infantile diarrhoea.
Apart from the death returns, the only information as to the presence
of outbreaks of non-notifiable infectious disease is obtained from the
returns from the nurseries and public elementary schools. As judged by
these, there were a few scattered cases of mumps in all parts of the
District in January, but this infection died down except at Sanderstead,
where 10 cases occurred in May, and in Selsdon, where, cpmmencing in
April, the numbers steadily increased throughout the remaining months
of the year, a total of 50 cases being notified from this one school. A
few cases of chicken pox were scattered over the District during the early
months, e.g., 12 at Roke in January and 12 at Sanderstead in February,
but with the exception of Kenley, where 25 cases occurred in July, only
a very few cases were notified during the remainder of the year. Similarly,
only odd cases of German measles and 1 case of infective jaundice were
reported.
There was an extensive outbreak of cat ringworm at Old Coulsdon
from June to October inclusive, which extended over the nearby Caterham
boundary. Fifteen cases were reported, all being from one school.
Segregation and treatment of the cases was accompanied by a widespread
and voluntary destruction of feline and other pets, the disease eventually
dying out before the end of the year.
Home visitation and exclusion from school are still the two chief
24