London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Richmond upon Thames 1966
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Richmond]
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The number of notifications received during the year, compared with 1965, may be summarised as follows: —
| Disease. | 1966 | 1965 |
|---|---|---|
| Dysentery | 13 | 17 |
| Erysipelas | 19 | 9 |
| Food Poisoning | — | 6 |
| Measles | 888 | 1992 |
| Meningococcal Infection | 1 | — |
| Acute Pneumonia | 32 | 47 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | 4 | 3 |
| Scarlet Fever | 76 | 69 |
| Typhoid and Para-Typhoid | 1 | — |
| Whooping Cough | 80 | 10 |
The table on page 15 gives the number of cases notified under age groups.
Scarlet Fever.
The increase of seven cases of this disease notified during 1966 as compared with
1965 is accounted for in the first two years of life. There was a similar increase in
the incidence of Erysipelas at the other extreme of life. No cause can be attributed to
these increases at present.
Whooping Cough.
It will be seen that there was an increase of cases in 1966 compared to 1965 and
this mainly in the 2 year old age group. This may be accounted for by the fact that
in 1965 there was a poor uptake of the 18 months reinforcing dose of triple vaccine
which improved during 1966. Alternatively, the increase of cases may indicate the
present vaccine may be less effective against the current strain of the disease.
Although this was not a "measles" year (minor waves of epidemics tend to occur biennially in towns in this country) nevertheless 888 cases were notified. Previous years figures are as follows: —
| 1959 | 1957 | 1963 | 1885 |
| 1960 | 57 | 1964 | 234 |
| 1961 | 2422 | 1962 | 1965 |
| 112 | 1992 | 1966 | 888 |
The distribution of cases during each quarter of the year was as follows: —
| M. | F. | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st January—31st March | 123 | 153 | 276 |
| 1st April—30th June | 158 | 121 | 279 |
| 1st July — 30th September | 54 | 54 | 108 |
| 1st October—31st December | 114 | 111 | 225 |
| Total | 449 | 439 | 888 |