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A small outbreak of scarlet fever occurred at the beginning
of the year, It was confined mainly to one school in the district
The circumstances were such that I thought it expedient to investigate.
on the assumption that there might have been carriers or
missed cases still attending school Accordingly nose and throat
swabs were taken from children in the classes concerned Fortyfive
children were swabbed of these eight produced a positive
growth Three of the cultures showed the organism responsible for
scarlet fever These three children were excluded from school,
and I am happy to relate that there were no further cases reported
from this school at that time
The Public Health Inspectors also visited all the homes of
children absent from this school at that time in an endeavour to
find any further missed cases This involved making 92 calls, many
of these in the evening As a result of these calls, one further
case came to light.
Two months later a second minor outbreak occurred in another
school The same action was taken five children were excluded,
with the result that there was at once a decline in the incidence
of scarlet fever
It must again be noted that the character of scarlet fever
is extremely mild in the cases now being met with Indeed it is
no longer considered necessary to exclude contacts of scarlet
fever from school though this procedure may have to be amended at
any time if the more virulent type of scarlet fever makes its
appearance
Poliomyelitis
Two cases of paralytic poliomyelitis were notified during the
year as against four cases of paralytic poliomyelitis and two
cases of non paralytic poliomyelitis in 1956 The first occurred
in May in a girl aged two Although paralytic, this was a very
mild case and the patient made good progress and a successful
recovery The second case I regret to say was truly tragic This
case occurred in November in a man of 33 After an illness of very
short duration the patient died
I have reported to the Public Health Committee from time to
time on the scheme of vaccination against poliomyelitis which is
now in force within the Borough as part of the County Council s
immunisation and vaccination programme This scheme operated with
remarkable smoothness during the year It is not possible in this
report to detail the number of Wood Green children who have been
given either one two or three injections against poliomyelitis
as these figures are not yet available As soon as the numbers
have been tabulated however I will report the year s totals to
the Public Health Commltteo At the moment it can be said that
the percentage of children up to the age of 15 who have been
vaccinated against poliomyelitis is most gratifying and must be
one of the best reported in the county Indeed the first figures
issued showed that the percentage of these children in Area No 2
who were vaccinated against poliomyelitis was actually the highest
in the county This again is a tribute to the foresight of the
parents who have not hesitated to take advantage of the facilities
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