View report page

5
BOROUGH OF BARNES.
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1956
PREFACE
The Registrar General supplies local authorities with "Comparability
Factors" in respect of births and deaths, and you will see
that these have been used in the compilation of the various statistics.
I would explain that the use of the factors supplied by the Registrar
General give corrected figures to the local rates, enabling truer comparisons
to be made with the remainder of the country—i.e. as though
the ages and sexes of the local population were in the same proportion
as those for the whole country.
STAFF AND DUTIES
Mr. Bernard Berry resigned from the position of Public Health
Inspector on 30th April, 1956 to take up an appointment with another
authority. The vacancy was filled by Mr. C. E. Mallett, who commenced
duties on 10th December, 1956.
There were no other changes in the staff of the Public Health
Department during the year.
PREVALENCE OF, AND CONTROL OVER, INFECTIOUS
DISEASES
Generally
The incidence of infectious disease during the year was very low.
There were 8 cases of Scarlet Fever notified during the year, as
compared with 7 in 1955.
There was a marked reduction in the number of cases of Whooping
cough— 17 being notified as compared with 42 in the previous
year.
1956 was the inter epidemic year for measles, and only 16 cases
occurred. In the epidemic of the previous year there were 489 cases
notified.
There were no cases of Diphtheria.
Poliomyelitis
There were 6 cases of Poliomyelitis notified during the year —of
these 4 were Paralytic and 2 Non-Paralytic. Two of the Paralytic