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B.C.G. Vaccine is now unnecessarily withheld from the General
Practitioner and the Public Health Doctors. Again the Chest
Clinic gives cause for anxiety. While the staff in this Institution
deserves the greatest praise for the quality and quantity of work
done for those who are affected, the conditions under which they
attend are still sadly lacking and fraught with danger to the many
contacts who are sent there for diagnosis. Some improvement is
suggested in the present building. This project merits the highest
priority, but in the meantime the people must suffer on. Remember,
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease and every effort should be
made to check its progress.
Poliomyelitis.—This disease merits every attention, not only
because it has received widespread publicity in the press, but also
because of its crippling effects.
During this year we have been fairly free from it, but in the
past the facilities available for the treatment of cases, after the
infectious phase, were not adequate, except for small numbers.
A Vaccine has been developed in the U.S.A. known as the
" Salk " Vaccine.
Three types of Poliomyelitis have been identified: Type 1
(Brunhilde), Type 2 (Lancing), Type 3 (Leon).
The prevalent type at present is Type 1, but all three have
occurred. Immunity to one type does not protect against the
other two.
The difficulty experienced in developing the Vaccine is that
the virus will grow only on living tissue. A trivalint Vaccine has
been grown on tissue culture on living kidney tissue of the Rhesus
monkey. Clinical trials have shown that it is well tolerated and
provides an active immunity which lasts a minimum of seven
months. Investigation of this Vaccine and its production has been
entrusted to the Medical Research Council in this country. It is
to be hoped that this august body will not spend as much time in
considering their verdict as in the case of B.C.G.
Food Poisoning.—This district has not had many cases of
this disease notified. Some cases on investigation did not prove
to be food poisoning, others did cause some anxiety, but subsequently
passed off without serious effects.
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