Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]
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INFECTIOUS DISEASE
The following table indicates the number of cases of infectious
disease notified during 1959, the number admitted to hospital and
the number of deaths which occurred.
TABLE VI
Disease. | Numbers Notified. | Admitted to Hospital. | Total Deaths. |
---|---|---|---|
Scarlet fever | 132 | 40 | — |
Acute pneumonia | 10 | 2 | — |
Measles | 930 | 2 | — |
Whooping cough | 32 | 1 | — |
Erysipelas | 2 | — | — |
Dysentery | 141 | 20 | — |
Food poisoning | 17 | 1 | — |
Acute poliomyelitis | — | — | — |
Puerperal pyrexia | 1 | 1 | — |
Diphtheria | — | — | — |
A further analysis of these cases by ages, wards and the
months during which they occurred is given in Tables XVII and
XVIII in the Appendix and the number of cases of infectious
disease notified since 1929 is given in Table XIX in the Appendix.
It will be seen that tuberculosis is omitted from this list of
infectious diseases, as it is dealt with separately later. As in 1958,
measles was the commonest disease notified. The downward
trend in whooping cough noted in 1958 was continued in 1959,
indicating that the immunisation scheme introduced in 1953 is
proving effective.
SCARLET FEVER
There were 132 cases of scarlet fever, mostly of a very mild
type. Forty cases were admitted to isolation hospital. Of these,
thirty-two were from a residential school and although most cases
were very mild indeed hospital admission was considered advisable
to prevent the spread of infection.
ACUTE PNEUMONIA
During the year 10 cases occurred. This is the lowest number
of notified cases since 1952. Two of the cases were admitted to
hospital.
MEASLES
The number of cases of measles notified was 930 compared
with 103 cases notified in 1958. Immunisation is not available
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