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Although wo are very satisfied with the fact that
many Friern Barnet children are inoculated against pertusis,
either alone or in conjunction with diphtheria, it must
be remembered that inoculation against pertussis does
not claim and never has claimed to provide full protection
against this disease. Our only claim has been that
many children inoculated against pertussis still remain
fully protected for several years, at least until pertussis
ceases to be a killing or even a dangerous disease; and
that the remaining children inoculated, if they develop
the disease, will only do so in a mild form. When
the percentage of children inoculated against pertussis
in Friern Barnet is as high as those protected against
diphtheria, the results of inoculation will become fully
apparent. Until that time arrives, there is evidence
that our present policy is correct. We are endeavouring
to persuade mothers to have their children inoculated
against pertussis at or about the second month of life.
As pertussis remains one of the major killing diseases
of infancy during the first six months of a child's
existence, early inoculation will, we believe, tide the
child over that dangerous period. Thereafter, as
I have already pointed out, the danger progressively
diminishes.
Food Poisoning including Sonne Dysentery)-
Thirty-eight cases of dysentery and seven cases
of food poisoning were reported during the year, as against
one case of dysentery and three cases of food poisoning
during the previous year.
I must again state, of course, that these figures
are only useful for purposes of comparison. We know
perfectly well that many cases of food poisoning and
dysentery are never brought to our notice, or even to
the notice of the family doctor. The scheme set out
in my Annual Report for 1954, relating to the exclusion
from school of cases of diarrhoea, with or without
sickness, continues to work satisfactorily. It would
be too soon yet to state categorically that this scheme
has reduced the incidence of dysentery among school
children, but we certainly do know that it has eased
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