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Puerperal Pyrexia
There were 142 cases, which means that one mother in ten had some fever
after her baby was born. This is rather a high rate of puerperal abnormality,
but it is no higher than in 1960 There were 143 cases in 1960
Scarlet Fever
Fifty cases of Scarlet Fever is not a great deal, since there is no effective
immunising agent against this disease and some isolation of cases and contacts
has therefore to be practised at present. Only 13 children needed to be
moved to hospital. Scarlet Fever in Edmonton remains relatively mild.
Whooping Cough
This is a much more infectious disease than Scarlet Fever, yet only 24
cases were notified. These figures bear witness to the effectiveness of
Whooping Cough antigen as an immunising agent.
Tuberculosis
The total number of cases on the register again dropped slightly to 1,326.
There has been a slow but steady drop in the number of cases on the register
since 1958. The number of new cases was about the same as in 1960 in the case
of Respiratory Tuberculosis, but there was an increase in the amount of NonRespiratory
Tuberculosis in males. Pulmonary Tuberculosis used to be considered
a disease of youth, but it now appears to be becoming a disease of maturity and
middle age. A smoker's cough is not always an indication of Bronchitis. It may
be a sign of Tuberculosis of the lung.
The North-East Metropolitan Regional Board's Mass Radiography Unit 6A, which
is a mobile unit, visits Edmonton about every three years. This year the Unit
tried to be as mobile as possible. The Angel Road Ward was extensively canvassed
with the aid of the British Red Cross, and the Unit then toured the Ward
almost from street to st.eet. 2,159 people were x-rayed in the Angel Road Ward
and 47 of these were found to be requiring further investigation. The other
wards were covered less intensively, but the Unit was in Edmonton from September
1961 to January 1962, and during this time every citizen had at least one chance
of attending the Unit while most had two or three. The number x-rayed at normal
'walk-in' sessions, including those in the Angel Road Ward was 4,613, while 8,261
were x-rayed at special sessions for shops and factories and hospital staff. 149
hospital patients were also x-rayed. The total number x-rayed was 13,023. The
Unit was not open to those under 15 years of age on this occasion, so that if
those attending for x-ray had all been Edmonton residents, about one person in
six would have been x-rayed. Even allowing for the fact that a number are not
residents, this figure represents a fair sample of the population and the fact
that only 12 cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis requiring immediate treatment were
found suggests that the incidence is now relatively low in Edmonton.
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