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
Hornchurch 1962
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornchurch]
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37
SECTION F.
PREVALENCE OF AND CONTROL OVER INFECTIOUS AND OTHER NOTIFIABLE DISEASES.
Infectious and Other Notifiable Diseases, 1962.
| Disease | Total cases notified | No. of Cases hospitalised |
|---|---|---|
| Dysentery | 7 | 1 |
| Erysipelas | 10 | 2 |
| Food Poisoning | 26 | 8 |
| Infective Hepatitis | 26 | 8 |
| Malaria (contracted abroad) | 1 | 1 |
| Measles | 825 | 7 |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum | 1 | 0 |
| Paratyphoid Fever | 1 | 1 |
| Pneumonia | 23 | 6 |
| Poliomyelitis (non-paralytic) | 1 | 1 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | 3 | 0 |
| Scarlet Fever | 82 | 0 |
| Smallpox | 1 | 1 |
| Typhoid Fever | 1 | 1 |
| Whooping Cough | 18 | 1 |
The infectious disease cases were fewer than in 1961.
The smallpox case in Rainham—a man of 49—resulted in vaccinations
reported to the Local Health Authority going up from 2,354 in
1961 to 52,438 in 1962. This did not represent by any means the total
increase in vaccinations during the year. Some 3,756 International Certificates
were authenticated as against 570 in 1961.
The event of even a single case of smallpox produces a very considerable
strain on a Public Health Department, and one which has to
be experienced to be assessed.
I must thank all my staff for the encouraging and generous help
which they gave during what was clearly an anxious time.
One outbreak of food poisoning was associated with a canteen outside
the District—the causitive organism being Salmonella Typhi Murium
and the origin possibly connected with frozen liquid egg.
International Certificates of Vaccination or Inoculation.
3,756 certificates were stamped during the year. The number for
the previous year was 570.