London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

Friern Barnet 1960

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Friern Barnet]

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Table: The following table sets out the infectious diseases notified during 1960, as compared with the notifications received during 1959:

The following table sets out the infectious diseases notified during 1960, as compared with the notifications received during 1959:

1959.1960.
Measles24118
Pertussis (Whooping Cough)mm mm31
Scarlet Fever178
Pneumonia1810
Dysentery1439
Food Poisoning41
Tuberculosis811
Erysipelas31
Ophthalmia-Neonatorum-1
Total305120

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From this table the following facts emerge:-
Measles notifications dropped from 241 in
1959 to 18 in I960. This was to be expected, of
course, as I960 was not a "me isles year".
Scarlet Fever notific tions also dropped
from 70 in 1959 to 18 in I960. The type of scarlet
fever met with was extremely mild, a fact to which
I have made reference in several previous Annual Reports.
No cases of diphtheria occurred in Friern
Barnet during the year. The last death took place
approximately thirteen years ago. The fact that
small outbreaks of diphtheria are still occurring
throughout the country, however, means that we must
not relax our precautions in any way. This
particularly applies to immunisation, which is now
normally carried out by the triple method, i.e.
diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus combined. The
addition of tetanus vaccination is a welcome addition
to our armamentarium.
Thirty-one cases of pertussis were notified
during 1960, as against nil in 1959. This was in
some ways surprising, since the incidence of measles
and pertussis usually run together. It must be
remembered that vaccination against pertussis does
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