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8
SECTION ‘F’— PREVALENCE OF, AND CONTROL OVER,
INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES
Generally
The incidence of infectious disease during the year was relatively
low, apart from the epidemic of Measles.
There were 5 cases of Scarlet Fever notified during the year as
compared with 8 in 1956. There was an increase in the number of
cases of Whooping Cough — 37 being notified as compared with 17
in the previous year. Most of the cases were mild.
1957 was the epidemic year for Measles and 606 cases occurred.
In the epidemic of 1955 there were 489 cases notified.
There were no cases of Diphtheria during the year; the last case
notified in this Borough was in 1948.
Poliomyelitis
There was one case of Paralytic Poliomyelitis notified during the
year. The patient, a girl of 15 years, developed the disease about
two weeks after returning home from holiday in August. She had
severe paralysis of the legs, and was treated in the Western Hospital,
Fulham, in the acute stage of the disease, and later transferred to
Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton, for further treatment.
At the end of the year she was still in hospital and reported to
be making some progress.
There was one death due to Poliomyelitis assigned to this area,
although the case was not previously notified. The patient was a
young man, aged 21 years, in the Merchant Navy, whose home was
in this district. He was admitted to the Isolation Hospital in Dover,
where he died, the cause of death being Acute Fulminating Poliomyelitis
(Paralytic).
Tuberculosis
The number of new cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis was 19 as
compared with 18 for the previous year.
The number of cases of Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis was 4 as
compared with 3 in 1956.
There were 3 deaths from Pulmonary Tuberculosis during 1957.
Four persons who had been notified as suffering from the disease died
during the year — of these three died from that cause and the remaining
one was due to other causes.
Mass Radiography Unit
The last visit of this unit was in April, 1956 and it is not
anticipated that a further session will be held before August, 1958.