London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Harrow 1955

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]

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58
In point of fact nothing of that sort occurred. In the case of smallpox
though there is an analogous occurrence. When a person vaccinated in
infancy loses some, but not all, of his protection and is exposed to
infection, he might acquire an atypical and not easily recognisable attack,
one which perhaps does not make him sufficiently ill to limit his movements
so that he spreads the infection. But what risk there is in the case
of whooping cough is worth the taking, partly because of the very substantial
proportion of children who are being inoculated and so acquire
partial, if not total protection, but also because it is felt that so many
mothers are having their children inoculated against whooping cough
and at the same time against diphtheria which helps to prevent the proportion
protected against diphtheria from falling to what might be a
disturbingly low level.
Two-thirds of the deaths from whooping cough occur in those under
one year of age in which age group there is a fatality of 1.0 per cent.
In those of one to three it is 0.1 and in those over three 0.01. These
figures point to the desirability of any protection being given to those of
the youngest ages. Unfortunately though it may prove that in the very
young antibody response is not aroused by the present vaccine. In
spite of this, large scale inoculation might be expected to bring about a
fall in the incidence even amongst these babies indirectly. This is because
the babies almost invariably contract their infection from an older child
in the house; if this older child is rendered immune, he does not introduce
infection into the home so the infant is not exposed. The highest
incidence of whooping cough occurs in those of from two to four years of
age, only ten per cent, of the cases occurring in those who have not reached
their first birthday.
PUERPERAL INFECTION
The only notification of puerperal pyrexia received in 1955 related
to a woman who had had a miscarriage in a hopital not in the district.
On her return home she developed a raised temperature.
OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM
There was no notification in 1955 of ophthalmia neonatorum
amongst infants born in this district.
PEMPHIGUS NEONATORUM
In 1955 no cases of pemphigus neonatorum were notified in this area.
NON-NOTIFIABLE INFECTIONS
Knowledge of the prevalence of some of the infections which are
not notifiable in this district is obtained from intimations received from
the head teachers about the absence of children from school.
Chicken Pox
999 intimations of chicken pox were received from the schools
during the year. The greatest incidence was in the spring term, though
in a number of schools infection continued in the early part of the summer
term. A few schools, including even some of those affected in the spring
term, were attacked again in the last term.