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The first case was a boy aged 5½ who had a definite paralysis of the leg muscles,
he was admitted to hospital on the 2nd June. He had been sitting at a table in school
with three other children, one of whom, a boy, developed tonsilitis on the 2nd June.
Another child at the same table attended her own doctor for treatment for acute
otitis media on the same date. Her illness responded to chemotherapy, and was not in
any way suggestive of poliomyelitis, nevertheless, a home contact of this girl, a
domestic servant, who became the second notified case, was admitted to hospital on
the 6th June with polioencephalitis.
The homes of all the notified cases were visited and contacts were advised on the
best known methods of preventing the spread of the disease and school children who
were intimate contacts were excluded for twenty-one days.
It was decided to regard the disease as epidemic in a ward of the Borough when
more than two cases per 10,000 population were notified during the previous three
weeks in the ward concerned. When the disease was considered epidemic, the Area
Medical Officer stopped immunisation and the general hospitals in the Borough were
notified so that they could select cases for tonsillectomy from those wards where the
disease was less prevalent.
Research into the methods of preventing poliomyelitis by vaccination has made
progress during recent years and during 1956 we can look forward with interest to the
progress of the children who have been vaccinated against poliomyelitis with the new
vaccine.
Puerperal Pyrexia,
There was a reduction in the number of cases of puerperal pyrexia, 109 cases
occurring compared with 147 in 1954.
Of the 109 cases, 48 only were Hendon residents. This is due to the fact that
situated within the Borough is a Maternity Hospital which provides accommodation not
only for the Borough of Hendon but also for the surrounding districts.
When puerperal pyrexia is notified in residents from these outside districts who
enter the hospital for their confinements, the notifications have to be accepted by
the Borough of Hendon and not by the authority within whose area the patient is
normally resident.
In consequence the notification rate for puerperal pyrexia in respect of the
Borough of Hendon is high.
The rate for the year 1955 is 55.5 per 1,000 total (live and still) births.
If the figure for the Hendon residents only is taken the rate is 24.4 per 1,000
total (live and still) births. The rate for England and Wales is 17.79.
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