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influenza in Southall, many people were sufficiently affected to be absent from school or
work for short periods, also at the end of the year the incidence of this illness was persisting,
and it seemed possible that a major outbreak could still be on the way.
There were no deaths from diphtheria, whooping cough or poliomyelitis, and only one
case of paralytic poliomyelitis occurred during the year.
Smallpox occurred in Middlesex and it was anticipated that there would be an increased
demand for vaccination against smallpox, but this did not take place. The figures for smallpox
vaccination were only very slightly greater than during 1956.
The figures for diphtheria immunisation were down, and are becoming dangerously low.
The new poliomyelitis vaccination started by Middlesex County Council in 1956 gained
momentum in 1957, and the number of sessions devoted to this form of protection were
still increasing at the end of the year.
Vaccination with B.C.G. against tuberculosis having been found by the results of the
Medical Research Council's investigation to be actively preventive, also began to be more
widely used during the year, and was offered to 13-year-old school children, and will be so
offered to all school children in future on their reaching the age of 13 in order to obtain
a protected adolescent population, i.e., to provide some safeguard for young persons entering
industry or student life as they have been found to be particularly liable to develop tuberculosis.
The notifications of tuberculosis are again showing the tendency to rise slightly, and it
is noticeable that one-sixth of the new cases in Southall during 1957 were natives of India
or Pakistan, who had come to live within the Borough. Nevertheless, it is a good sign of
the improved position with regard to tuberculosis that Mount Pleasant Hospital, for treatment
of tuberculosis in males, was closed down at the end of 1957 to be re-opened as a hospital
for the care of old people. This hospital formerly a general infectious disease hospital
which was no longer needed for this purpose because of the decline of scarlet fever and
diphtheria, in 1949 became a hospital to treat tuberculosis, then a dangerous and increasing
disease.
Another unsatisfactory feature of the Report is the rise in the number of school children
found to be infested with head lice. This is a scourge that it was hoped had been nearly
obliterated.
The routine work of the Department with regard to sanitation, infectious disease
control, food hygiene, rodent control and atmospheric pollution, is severely hampered by
what seems to be a permanent shortage of Public Health Inspectors. Great credit is due to
our officers that they achieve so much, and the day has not yet come that an emergency is
not dealt with at once. Indeed, routine work must give way to emergencies, and who can
tell on what day a major outbreak may not result in the whole of the routine sanitary work
having to be put aside entirely, because the inspectors are not physically able to do everything
at once.
The slum clearance programme is proceeding and the number of overcrowded families
recorded in the Public Health Department files was lower in 1957. Many are taking the
opportunity of removing to New Towns rather than wait in overcrowded conditions to be
rehoused by the Council within the Borough.
The atmospheric pollution records for 1957 show a pronounced improvement in the
clarity of the air above Southall. As the weather was not particularly good during 1957,
this could not be due to the absence of domestic fires, and can only be attributed to a general
realisation by the public and by industry of the need for cleaner air.
While the report on the physical wellbeing of the inhabitants of the Borough is not too
satisfactory for the year, when the mental health of the inhabitants of Southall as a whole is
considered in the light of the national emphasis being placed on this subject at present,
there are grounds for optimism. Southall is a respectable townlet and when reports appear
that the young people are undisciplined and running into danger, reference to the statistics
show that the illegitimate birth rate is comparatively low and is not rising.
Although a Borough with an area of only about 4 square miles and a population of 53,000,
that there are over 300 voluntary Associations meeting for social, cultural or philanthropic
purposes and often all three, must be quite outstanding, and this desire to be of service to
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