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34
Health Education
Talks were given to groups of mothers, youth clubs, old people's
clubs and church organisations during the year. As in previous years,
fathercraft classes were arranged at the Caryl Thomas Clinic for groups
of fathers. The course consists of three lectures in preparation for the new
duties of the husbands in the management of the young child, for cases
of emergency in the home and a fuller understanding of pregnancy and
the birth of the baby.
Film evenings were arranged in three clinics during the year for
expectant mothers and their husbands—fourteen such evenings were
arranged.
In addition, classes were arranged for school leavers in Home Making
and Health and Personal Hygiene. The aim of the classes is to help girls
to realise more fully their responsibilities as future wives and mothers.
Classes in child care in preparation for the Duke of Edinburgh's
Gold Medal Award were given in Downer Grammar School. The schools
concerned in this programme were Blackwell Secondary, Roxeth Manor
Secondary, Heriots Wood Grammar and Heathfield College.
Research Projects
In conjunction with general practitioners, the Department has been
co-operating with the Public Health Laboratory at Colindale in a survey
to investigate the serotypes currently responsible for cases of whooping
cough and also to study the relation between serotypes isolated from
patients and those present in current vaccines.
Previous research work had suggested that the whooping cough
vaccines may be less effective than in former years, because there may have
been a change in the antigenic structure of the epidemic strain organism.
More than 4/5 strains of Bordetella pertussis now being isolated in this
country are of serotype 1, 3. Most of the pertussis vaccine used until
recently contained mainly antigens 1 and 2 and little antigen 3. Before
1958 strains of serotype 1, 3 were rarely isolated.
The main objectives of this survey were as follows:—
(1) to identify the serotypes of Bordetella pertussis responsible
for cases of whooping cough in the United Kingdom and when a
patient has been previously vaccinated to determine whether the
serotype isolated, was represented in the vaccine.
(2) To determine if cases considered clinically to be whooping
cough may be caused by other agents.
General practitioners were asked to report suspected cases of
whooping cough to the Department by telephone with the minimum of
delay. These cases were then visited by nursing staff from the Department