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
Wood Green 1960
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wood Green]
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PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
From the table of infectious diseases set out on Page 29, it
will be seen that 229 cases of infectious diseases were notified
during the year as against 360 in 1959. This is again a very low
figure, partly due to the fact that 1960 was not a "measles year".
The following table sets out the notifiable infectious diseases for the two years 1959 and 1960:-
| 1960 | 1959 | |
|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Fever | 38 | 28 |
| Diptheria | - | - |
| Cerebro-Spinal Fever | - | - |
| Enteric or Typhoid Fever | - | - |
| Paratyphoid Fever | - | 3 |
| Erysipelas | 3 | 1 |
| Pneumonia | 28 | 46 |
| Acute Poliomyelitis | - | 7 |
| Acute Encephalitis | - | 1 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | - | - |
| Pulmonary Tuberculosis | 27 | 42 |
| Non-pulmonary Tuberculosis | 3 | 3 |
| Malaria | - | - |
| Measles | 21 | 169 |
| Whooping Cough | 72 | 16 |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum | - | - |
| Dysentery | 34 | 35 |
| Food Poisoning | 3 | 9 |
| Smallpox | - | - |
| 229 | 360 |
Scarlet fever notifications rose from 28 in 1959 to 38 in
1960. Once again, the type of scarlet fever met with in the
majority of cases was extremely mild.
For the thirteenth year in succession no case of diphtheria
occurred in the Borough. The last death took place approximately
21 years ago. The fact that small outbreaks of diphtheria are
still occurring throughout the country, however, means that we
cannot relax our precautions in any way. This particularly
applies to immunisation, which is now normally carried out by the
triple method, i.e. diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus combined.
The addition of tetanus vaccination is a welcome addition to our
armamentarium.
Measles notifications dropped from 169 in 1959 to 21 the
lowest figure yet recorded. This was to be expected, as 1960 was
not a "measles year". Severity was extremely low, and none of the
cases was removed to hospital.
22