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9
Certification.
International certificates of inoculation and vaccination must
be authenticated by the local health officer; and certificates are
also regularly given as to the purity and condition of manufacture
of certain medicaments manufactured in the Borough and intended
for export.
When contacts of infectious persons are excluded from work
on account of potential risk to others, a certificate is provided to
ensure the payment of benefits under the National Insurance Act.
Diphtheria.
As in the previous year there was no notified case of Diphtheria
during the year.
Primary immunisation at the Clinics remained about the same,
1,370 children were immunised compared with 1,367 the year
before, and 415 children were immunised by General Practitioners
against 544 in 1952.
The total number of booster doses was exactly the same as in
the previous year, 2,513. This number comprises 125 by General
Practitioners and 2,388 at the Clinics, compared with 172 and
2,341 respectively in 1952.
Since the total number of live births for the year was 2,444
it can be seen that a large proportion of children in the first year
of life received primary immunisation. This proportion was
approximately 72%. It is considered that to obtain a satisfactory
state of immunity 70% to 75% of children in the first year of life
should be immunised.
There is every reason to be pleased with the present state of
immunity of the population of Ealing, but there should be no
complacency about this. As the incidence of Diphtheria falls it is
all the more important to continue the immunisations, as the
natural immunity acquired from exposure to the disease falls off.
Dysentery.
132 cases were notified and in 73 the Sonne organism was
discovered.
All the cases were individual or involved two or three members
of a family. There were no major outbreaks.
This was a very mild type of enteritis but such a type can
rapidly assume epidemic form and cause much concern among
parents, as children are mainly affected.
To prevent such outbreaks the practice of hand hygiene by all
concerned is essential and even mild cases of diarrhoea should be
reported.