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
Mitcham 1953
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Mitcham]
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46
Prevention of Blindness
This comes under the control of the Surrey County Council.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum
During the year no case of ophthalmia neonatorum was
notified.
Poliomyelitis
There were five cases affecting one adult, one youth, and
three young children. The adult case was non-paralytic, while
the others had some degree of paralysis, two very slight, one
moderate, and one very severe, which probably affected the
respiratory muscles, causing death.
School Notifications
The school intimation notices of infectious disease are always
compared with the notifications received from the medical
practitioners. If any case on the school return is found to be
unnotified, investigations are made in order to find out if the
patient is receiving medical attention.
The school notices also give information of the prevalence of non-notifiable infectious disease, such as chicken pox, mumps, etc. The numbers were as follows:—
| Chicken pox | 185 |
| Mumps | 11 |
| Ringworm | 1 |
| Rubella | 15 |
| Scabies | 2 |
| Shingles | 1 |
| Impetigo | 2 |
| Jaundice | 1 |
| Influenza | 285 |
| Skin Disease | 1 |
Cancer
The number of deaths from cancer registered during the
year was 129, of which 73 were males and 56 were females.