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VI. PREVALENCE OF AND CONTROL OVER INFECTIOUS AND
OTHER DISEASES
Weather Conditions.
On the whole 1956 was a year of dull weather and low temperature in
Summer but, with the exception of February, the Winter was not a very
cold one.
Dense fog occurred in London during 4th-6th January, and is stated
to have caused over 400 additional deaths in the County and almost 1,000
in Greater London. This is the third major fog mortality incident in
London since 1948. Age groups predominantly affected were babies in their
first year and persons over 65. Deaths, occurring in Stepney during the
ten day period, 4th-13th January, 1956, showed an increase of 56 per cent
over the previous ten days, 25th December, 1955, to 3rd January, 1956.
January was wet and changeable with much fog in the first week,
February was exceptionally cold with some snow and sleet, March was dry
and sunny, April was rather cold, whilst May, being very dry and sunny,
was one of the best months of the year.
June was cold and dull with little sun and some thunderstorms, July
was cool, dull and wet - the night of 8th-9th, with 2.38 inches of rain
at Kew, being the wettest since 1871. The month ended with gales. August
was the coldest at Kew since 1922; there was heavy rainfall and thunder on
several days and sunshine was below normal. September was the fourth successive
dull month and commenced with much rainfall. Thus ended a very bad
Summer.
October opened with very heavy rainfall on the first day, being otherwise
fairly dry though cold; there was considerable fog from the 9th-l6th.
November was very dry but cold towards the end, and December, changeable
and exceptionally dull, was the gloomiest December for 66 years.
The Easter holiday week-end, 30th March to 2nd April, was dry and
mostly dull but Monday was very pleasant; Whitsun, 19th-21st May, was
dry and sunny but cool, and August 4th-6th cool and thundery.
Notifications.
A total of'1,324 notifications of cases of infectious diseases were
received during the year, as compared with 2,677 in 1955; the difference
being largely accounted for by the high number of notifications of measles
last year.
Table 18 on page 72 shows details of notifications received, together
with age groups.The diagnosis was not confirmed in six of the abovementioned
notifications. A list of the diseases notifiable in the County
of London is shown in Table 19 on page 73.
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