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
Orpington 1951
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Orpington]
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42
These two tables show (a) the number of children under the
age of fifteen who have been immunised at one time or another
and (b) the extent to which immunisation has been carried out
during the year 1951.
Measles.
One thousand six hundred and sixty-three cases of measles
were notified during 1951, compared with two hundred and fifty
cases in 1950 and one thousand and forty-nine in 1949. The type
of infection was mild and there were no deaths. Thirty of the
cases were admitted to hospital, mainly because of inadequate
facilities for home nursing. The notification figures taken over
the three years 1949, 1950 and 1951 demonstrate the well-known
fact that measles occurs in two yearly periods with a superimposed
wave of five-yearly periods.
Whooping Cough.
There were five hundred and fifty cases of whooping cough
notified, compared with two hundred and ninety-seven in the
previous year. Twenty-three of the cases were admitted to
hospital. This disease, like measles, was not so severe as in
previous years but, nevertheless, remains a disturbing disease
of childhoods
Immunisation against whooping cough is possible, but it has
not yet received the full support of the medical profession.
Research is continuing and there is every possibility of approval
being given by the Ministry of Health once all dangers of
immunisation against the disease have been eliminated.
The following table has been extracted from the tuberculosis register, where it will be seen that there were eighty-four additions and twenty-three removals :
| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | Total Cases | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | M | F | ||
| (a) No. of Cases of Tuberculosis on the register at the commencement of year | 296 | 240 | 65 | 71 | 672 |
| (b) No. of cases notified under the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations for the first time during the year | 30 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 56 |
| (c) No. of cases restored to the register during the year | |||||
| (d) Other additions to the register during the year | 12 | 15 | 1 | _ | 28 |
| (e) No. of cases removed from the register during the year | 15 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| (f) No. of cases remaining on the register at the end of the year | 323 | 271 | 68 | 71 | 733 |