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Measles
The last large outbreak of Measles reached its peak in the
March quarter of 1961, and had subsided by the end of the June
quarter of that year. An increase in the number of cases began
again in June 1962 and by the end of the year a total of 793 cases
had been notified. The notifications, however, were fairly evenly
spread over the last seven months of the year, and did not reach
the same epidemic proportion as 1961 when 1,758 cases were
notified in the first quarter, out of a total of 2,242 for the whole
year.
Tuberculosis
The number of primary notifications of cases of Tuberculosis
received during the year was 55 (17 more than in 1961) and 13
deaths were ascribed to this disease. For the last few years, the
number of deaths from Tuberculosis has remained fairly constant
at about seven per annum and it is necessary to go back as far as
1954, when the total was 15, to find a greater number than the 13
deaths recorded in 1962. This increase, however, has no significance
in the improvement in the country with regard to the deaths from
Tuberculosis which fell from 72 per million population in 1961 to
66 per million in 1962. The equivalent death rate in Romford for
the past 6 years has been approximately 60 per million, so that the
number of deaths in 1962, although equivalent to 112 per million,
only brings the average for Romford over the last seven years to
a figure still below the national average.
The assiduous follow-up of case contacts by Health Visiting
Staff, and the B.C.G. Vaccination of Mantoux Negative contacts
has continued. B.C.G. Vaccination has been offered to all Secondary
School children in the 13-year age group and to older school
children and students at colleges, etc. During the year, 1,525
school children, and students were given B.C.G. following a
negative Mantoux test. 71 children were found to be Mantoux
positive, and as a precautionary measure were referred to the Chest
Physician to exclude the possibility of Tuberculosis.
The Mass Miniature Radiography Unit visited Romford
during the year, and Dr. D. J. Lawless, the Medical Director,
informs me that a total of 7,933 persons were X-rayed (3,635
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