View report page

VI. PREVALENCE OF. AND CONTROL OVER INFECTIOUS AND
OTHER DISEASES
Weather Conditions
January was wet but very sunny and had a mean temperature a little
above average with sleet and snow on three days. February was very dry
and sunny, with sleet and snow on five days. March was exceptionally
cold, very frosty and with sleet or snow on ten days.
April was rather cold with average rainfall, whilst May was cool,
dull and rather dry. June was dry with rather more than average
sunshine, but from then on the summer was dull, cool and, with the
exception of August, wet.
October was dry and very sunny, November too being dry but with
less than average sunshine. December generally was cold and sunny,
with fog from the 3rd to 7th. Snow fell on Boxing Day and presaged a
period of frost lasting well into 1963 when many weather records were
broken.
Notifications
The number of notified cases of infectious diseases (corrected for
revised diagnoses and duplicate notifications) during the year was 772,
the lowest ever recorded.
Table 14. on page 74 shows cases notified together with comparative
figures over the last ten years. A list of diseases which are notifiable
in the County of London is shown in Table 16 on page 76.
Cancer
The number of deaths from cancer during the year was 214 (22 less
than last year). Deaths from lung cancer numbered 66, which is 13 less
than in 1961. The male death rate from lung cancer in England and
Wales increased from 567 per million population in 1952 to 895 in 1962,
the female death rate increasing from 98 to 146 during the same period.
The graphs facing the following page show the increase in the rates of
deaths from lung cancer since 1951, compared with the rates of deaths
from cancer of all sites where little change hns occurred.
Diphtheria
No notifications of Diphtheria were received for the second year
in succession and none was received in the whole County, the first time
since records were kept.
45