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(iv)
occurred but there were 9 cases of paratyphoid fever, all
of which recovered.
There was an unusually large outbreak of measles,
numbering 1.459 notified cases, all of which recovered.
This, the highest incidence of measles since the disease
became notifiable in 1938, was common throughout the
country.
Deaths from tuberculosis showed a slight decline from
last year, being 49 compared with 56. Cancer deaths have
also declined from 255 to 232.
The revocation this year of the 1930 regulations
prohibiting the importation of parrots recalls the tragic
death from psittacosis of Stepney's first Medical Officer
of Health? Dr.Dan Thomas, in December, 1929. Up to the
time of his death, little had been heard in this country
of this typhoid-like disease. Several cases .were subsequently
brought to the London Hospital, and. because the
disease was believed to be due to the importation of
infected parrots, the prohibition regulations were made by
the Minister of Health, Further research has shown that
the disease also occurs in seagulls, pigeons and other
birds. Modern drugs such as penicillin have rendered it
less dangerous, and only one death occurred in England
and Wales in the last ten years.
The general improvement in the health of the country
has greatly extended the expectation of life, and the
care of the increasing numbers of aged persons in the
population becomes each year a more difficult problem.
This is particularly so in East London, and the
Secretary of the Stepney Old People's Welfare Association
at Butcher Row, Cable Street, would welcome the assistance
of kindly persons living in the borough. Aged persons
living alone often require the help of neighbours,
and if this could possibly be organised on a street basis,
as was the Wardens' Service during the war, it would be a
great asset.
During and since the war, the number of coloured
immigrants coming to reside in the borough has increased,
and a recent calculation, which is necessarily approximate,
estimates the total coloured population to be