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41
Vaccination.
I am indebted to the County Medical Officer for the following
return of persons vaccinated during 1951 :
Age at 31st December, 1951 Under 1 1 to 4 5 to 14 15 or Over Total
Number Vaccinated 312 326 109 76 823
Number Rc-vaccinated 10 80 276 366
It will be seen from this that the public are showing a very
poor response with the result that there is an ever-increasing
proportion of the population who remain unvaccinated.
Scarlet Fever.
Ninety-four cases were notified, thirty of which were
admitted to hospital. Scarlet Fever continues to show itself in a
mild form and none of the ninety-four cases showed the acute
illness which used to be so common years ago. It is now a disease
which can be safely treated at home, the necessity for hospital
removal rarely arising. It is only one form of an infection by
hemolytic streptococci and it is only when the condition can be
diagnosed as scarlet fever that it becomes notifiable.
It must, however, not be overlooked that there is no guarantee
that scarlet fever will remain in its present mild state. It is
the habit of such diseases not only to rise and fall in incidence,
but also to rise and fall in severity of infection. There is no
real evidence that the population is creating an immunity against
this disease.
Diphtheria.
There have been no cases of diphtheria in Orpington for over
two years. Because of its absence, there is a great tendency for
the public not to realise that diphtheria must always remain a
dangerous possibility. In diphtheria immunisation lies a preventive
service which, to be effective, must be maintained at the
highest possible level. The following table has been supplied
by the County Medical Officer :
(a)
year of birth
1037 1938 1939 1940 1941 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1040 1050 1951 Total
624 712 806 753 763 583 1,076 945 816 812 959 619 614 687 54 10,823
(b)
year of birth
1051 1050 1040 1048 1947 1046 1045 f1944 1943 1042 1041 1940 1039 1038 1037 Total
Primary Inoculations.
54 616 139 21 15 23 8 7 4 6 2 7 28 13 17 960
Reinforcing Inoculations.
— — — 2 53 269 97 62 35 46 31 38 108 100 152 993