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ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1939.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Tenth Annual Report, which,
in accordance with the wishes of the Ministry of Health, takes the
form of an interim report. Arrangements are, however, being made
for the careful preservation of all records so that at the termination
of the war a report can be made dealing more fully with the period
from the beginning of 1939 to the end of the last complete year, and
in which separate statistics for each year will be given in order
that the annual records may be, as far as practicable, continuous and
complete.
I would point out that no detailed review of the Public
Health and Medical Services has been attempted in this Report and
mention is only made of temporary departures from normal, occasioned
by the outbreak of war. Every effort was made to reduce to a minimum
any temporary dislocation and by the end of the year the serviced had
been re-established.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
The incidence of the main notifiable infectious diseases
remained low during the year, 258 cases of Scarlet Fever and 150 cases
of Diphtheria being notified compared with 283 and 195 respectively in
the previous year.
There was a marked reduction in dysenteric infections notified,
there being only 5 as compared with 66 for the year 1938. 5 cases of
Cerebro-Spinal-Fever were notified, 2 of these occurring after the
outbreak of war. The presence of this disease gives rise to anxiety as
it appears to "be particularly associated with war and post war conditions
this was markedly manifested in the latter years of the last war and in