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7
Whooping cough (Table 14)
The incidence of whooping cough rose in 1958 compared with the previous year when the number
of cases confirmed was the lowest recorded since 1919. However, the number of confirmed cases was less
than recorded during any of the ten years 1948-1957, with one exception.
Dysentery
In common with the remainder of the country, there was a slight decrease in the number of cases
of sonne dysentery during the year. However, in the country generally the disease is much more prevalent
than before the war. It is usually a mild disease causing no deaths but it can produce some disruption and
discomfort in the life of the community.
There were three outbreaks:—
(1) The first occurred at the Wesley Road Day Nursery on the 22nd February. Altogether 26 children and
1 member of the staff were affected; 12 children and one member of the staff had symptoms, and 14
children were found to be carriers. Four cases were admitted to the isolation hospital. The infection
took three months to clear up and new admissions were not accepted until 4th April.
(2) The second outbreak occurred at the Mortimer Road Day Nursery on the 22nd March. Altogether 17
children were affected, 7 had symptoms and 10 were found to be carriers. Four cases were admitted to
the isolation hospital. The infection took some time to clear up and new admissions were not accepted
until 10th May.
(3) The third outbreak occurred at 91 Dartmouth Road on the 26th April. Altogether 19 mothers and
children were affected, 6 had symptoms and 13 were found to be carriers. The infection took three
months to clear up.
Poliomyelitis
There were nine notified cases of poliomyelitis, but only five confirmed (four paralytic). There was
one death (Table 15).
This was another good year and with the exception of 1958 when there were only four confirmed
cases it was the best year since 1951.
Food poisoning
There were four outbreaks of food poisoning (see page 12).
Puerperal pyrexia
Since 1st August, 1951, puerperal pyrexia applies to any 'febrile condition occurring in a woman in
whom a temperature of 100.4 degrees Farenheit (or 38 degrees Centigrade) has occurred within fourteen days
after childbirth or miscarriage'. There was a slight decrease in the number of cases in 1958.
BRONCHITIS, CANCER OF THE LUNG AND TUBERCULOSIS
(Tables 16-25)
Long term irritation of the lungs by exposure to smoke, both from cigarettes and air pollution, is a
major factor in the causation of lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and tuberculosis in middle-aged men.
The attack on tuberculosis has been very successful because of improved diet and standards of living
and medical advances in prevention, detection and treatment.
Chronic bronchitis and lung cancer, present a different picture; in Willesden in 1959, the death
rates of bronchitis and lung cancer were each more than twenty times that of tuberculosis.
Early diagnosis of chest disease is essential for treatment to be effective, but a marked and urgent
change in social habits is needed before these killing diseases can be eliminated or even reduced. Health
education is therefore an important weapon.
Mortality and morbidity
During 1959, 5 men over the age of 25 and no women died of tuberculosis (Table 20). More people
died from bronchitis (Table 18); however, the number of deaths from bronchitis fluctuates widely over the
years. The sex differences probably result from the heavier smoking habits of middle-aged and elderly men.
Also, smoke has probably played an important part and was certainly responsible for the larger number of
deaths in 1952 and 1953 following a severe fog.
In 1959 a few more people died from cancer of the lung (Table 19). The death rate has more than
doubled in the last 12 years, and there is a more marked sex difference: at present for every woman, six
men die of lung cancer, most of them over 45 years of age when they have already smoked enough cigarettes
to produce a cancer.
Prevention and diagnosis
To prevent chest disease, it is clear we must deal with smoke from cigarettes and the atmosphere.
It is hoped that the Clean Air Act will help to improve the air.