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

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Southall 1961

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall]

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Diphtheria
No cases of Dhtheria were notified to the Department.

The following information supplied by the Area Medical Officer shows the number of children immunised against diphtheria during the year.

Number of Children who completed a full course of Primary Immunisation in Southall during the yearNumber of Children who were given Secondary or Reinforcing Injection during the year (i.e. having in a previous year received a complete full course)
Ages at Date of Final Injection
Under 11-15-14Total
331500153984531

The immunisation state of the child population improved slightly during the year, the
figures showing an increase on 1960, in particular the number brought for a re-inforcing
or booster injection went up from 159 in 1960 to 531 in 1961.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum
One case of ophthalmia neonatorum was notified during the year. Although the
infant was admitted to hospital, the organism found was non-venereal, and the infection
cleared up with treatment.
Tuberculosis
Notifications
Pulmonary
The number of new cases notified during the year was 74.
Other Forms
The number of new cases notified during the year was 15.
Of the total notifications, which include new cases and inward transfers from other
districts, 70 were received from the Uxbridge Chest Clinic; 8 from General Hospitals;
8 from St. Bernard's Hospital; 1 from Hounslow Chest Clinic; 1 from Ealing Chest Clinic
and 1 from a General Practitioner. The number of new notifications rose from 71 in 1960
to 89 in 1961. Of the 89, 22 were inward transfers, i.e. they were not resident in Southall
at the time of development of the disease and, therefore, the actual figure of new notifications
of Southall residents was 67 one of which was subsequently diagnosed as nontuberculous;
while in 1960 the number of inward transfers was 24 making the figure for
new notifications of Southall residents 47, less one subsequently cancelled.
Deaths
Tuberculosis of the respiratory system, 1; other forms, nil.
For details of new cases notified and deaths in 1961, see Appendix Table VIII, and for
the occupation of new cases, see Appendix, Table IX.
Although the fact that only one death from tuberculosis was registered during 1961
is one to be welcomed, there was a disturbing rise in the incidence of new disease; notifications
rose by nearly 50%. As will be seen on Graph B, notifications of this disease have not
yet fallen below pre-war level, although the deadly effect of the disease has continued to drop
fairly steadily for the past thirty years.
No doubt better methods of diagnosis have ensured that cases are discovered in time
for treatment to produce good result, but the statistics raise considerations about the need
for more cases to be treated for longer periods in hospitals; domiciliary treatment may be
increasing the risk of the development of fresh cases, particularly in overcrowded homes,
or where patients are not supervised sufficiently to make sure they are persevering with
treatment and observing strict rules of hygiene.
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