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throughout the country arrived in this District, but the illness
was fortunately mild and short-lived, in most cases. The epidemic
was probably responsible for most of the 34 notifications of
primary acute pneumonia received.
Dysentery amongst schoolchildren was again troublesome,
though also mild. Recent experience suggests that the rigid
segregation of healthy carriers—a difficult and wasteful procedure—has
had little effect in controlling the spread of this
disease. A tightening up of personal hygiene among the population
in general—and especially the patient teaching and
supervision of hand washing of children after visiting the toilet
—are measures which are much more likely to prevent these
outbreaks from continuing.
Tuberculosis, though now declining, is in my opinion, by far
the most pressing public health problem of the moment. It is no
matter for complacency that this disease, whose cause and
mode of spread have been known for the past seventy years, is
still permitted to infect 50,000 new victims in the United Kingdom
each year through our failure to apply this knowledge effectively.
It is officially estimated that no less than 350,000 names
adorn the registers of our Chest Clinics at the present time, and
that a further 75,000 untreated or undiagnosed cases form an
"unknown infector pool", spreading the disease silently and
effectively among their friends and work-mates.
The significance of the "unknown infector pool" in this
District can readily be seen from a glance at the results of the
Mass Radiography Unit's visit in May (See also Section F of this
report): Amongst the total of 4,726 persons who attended for Xray,
17 cases of tuberculosis requiring supervision or treatment
were discovered, including 6 cases of active disease.
Improved techniques in the use of Mass Radiography, tuberculin
testing, vaccination and control of milk, are already having
beneficial effects, but much remains to be done to bring the
spread of tuberculosis under complete control, as has been
done in the case of smallpox. It was with this objective in mind
that I requested the Council to grant me leave to accept a
scholarship from the Danish Government to study the methods
in use in that country. I am grateful to all my employing authorities
for their ready acceptance of this proposal.
NEW LEGISLATION
The Housing Act, 1957 came into force on 1st September,
1957. This is to some extent a consolidating Act, but does not
cancel previous Housing Acts, though some parts of these are
repealed.
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