View report page

Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Edmonton N.9.
Telephone No. EDMonton 3000
Ext. 16
HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE BOROUGH OF EDMONTON.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
1963 was the year of the long hard winter and such a winter
always takes a heavy toll in respiratory disease. Deaths from pneumonia
were almost double and those from bronchitis rose by almost a sixth. It
is possible that the severe winter may have contributed to the increased
infantile mortality, since small babies, particularly premature babies, are
very susceptible to chill.
The summer of 1963 was notable in Edmonton for an outbreak of
food poisoning, originating from a baker's shop. The number of persons at
risk seemed likely to be the same as those at risk somewhat later in Aberdeen
through shopping at a supermarket, but the number of cases in Edmonton was
very much less. This was mainly because typhoid fever has a long incubation
period, while food poisoning by Salmonella Typhi-murium has a relatively
short one. The alarm sounded earlier in Edmonton therefore, and we were able
to begin our detective work earlier and control our epidemic more speedily.
In 1963, as I mentioned in the 1962 report, we followed up the
visit of the Central Council of Health Education team on the subject of smoking
and health, with talks in the schools they had not been able to visit,
and a Smokers Advice Clinic for adults. The Smokers Advice Clinic was a
pilot project and though it had only moderate success, provided the ground
work for a more enlarged and elaborate clinic in 1964, which proved very
successful. The male cancer rate in Edmonton remained more or less stationary,
and it is possible that the dangers of the cigarette are being appreciated
in Edmonton.
Pulmonary Tuberculosis reached a low ebb in Edmonton in 1963. Only
fifteen cases were notified, a notification rate of .166 per thousand population.
This is about half the rate for the County of Middlesex, and is also
below the national rate of 1963. In part it reflects the improving social conditions
in Edmonton, as a result of slum clearance and redevelopment; in part
it reflects the pursuit of cases and contacts by the Health Department and the
Chest Clinic. It remains a very positive achievement.
However, another old enemy is looming large on the public health
scene. This enemy is bronchitis, the "English disease". The bronchitis death
rate in women was doubled in Edmonton in 1963, and it is evident that a large
part of the population is not yet sturdy enough to withstand a really ferocious
winter. In men, the bronchitis rate measured by deaths fell slightly,
but the pneumonia death rate was doubled, and in women the pneumonia death
rate was increased by two-thirds. The very old over 85 suffered as might have
been expected, but there was an increase in respiratory death rates in almost
all above the age of 45. The very young suffered also, eight of the infant
deaths being attributed to pneumonia.