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selected. It was fortunate that, for reasons mentioned elsewhere in this Report, there was no
requirement during the year for the Unit to staff either the desks or the mezzanine level accommodation
in this Pier.
Airside Gallery Queen's Building
The health control check point on this gallery, which served flights from Terminal 1 and 2
that had to be coached, was finally abandoned at the end of August, when it was agreed that all
flights subject to control, arriving at these Terminals, would be examined on the Piers.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Smallpox
No cases of smallpox were recorded at Heathrow in 1970. The general world wide decrease
in the incidence of smallpox has led to a decision between the countries party to the Council of
Europe—Partial Agreement—to waive health control on certain flights from countries which
have had no reported case for five years.
The flights affected at Heathrow are those from the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America,
Guyana, Israel, the North African countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, and TransPacific,
Trans-Polar and Trans-Siberian flights from Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
During the year there was an outbreak of smallpox in West Germany and since this country
had withdrawn its membership of the Council of Europe—Partial Agreement, the Department of
Health and Social Security requested that spot-checks should be carried out on German flights
in order to learn how many passengers from Asia transferred at German airports to onward flights
to Heathrow, since these passengers were not checked on transfer in Germany. This measure
was introduced temporarily for six months in order to discover the extent of the problem but by
the end of the year, it appeared to be insignificant.
The number of passengers placed under surveillance for smallpox was 2,798. The number
of those isolated in hospital for the same reason was 137; all those isolated came from Pakistan,
India and Africa.
Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fevers
A number of notifications were received from Medical Officers of Health up and down the
country to the effect that certain passengers had arrived at Heathrow obviously incubating one
or other condition. Usually by the time the notification was received, it was too late to take positive
action other than to advise the airline concerned. The impression is gained that this problem is
on the increase.
Cholera
With the extension of cholera from the Far East to countries of the Middle East, North and
West Africa and to a much lesser extent countries in Eastern Europe, flights originating in infected
countries were, as a temporary measure, submitted to health control. Passengers coming from
infected local areas in such countries were placed under surveillance unless their international
certificates of vaccination against cholera were valid; in addition, all passengers arriving from these
countries were issued with the Council of Europe (Partial Agreement) Yellow Warning Card.
The number of passengers placed under surveillance was 395.