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3
Borough of Mitcham
HEALTH REPORT FOR 1954
To the Mayor, Alderman and Councillors.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in submitting my annual report for the
year 1954.
The general health in the Borough has been good, and there was
no special outbreak of infectious disease. In fact the notifications of
infectious diseases were remarkably low at 450 against 1,396 last year,
which had a large epidemic of measles.
No cases of poliomyelitis were reported during the year.
The absence of diptheria is almost taken for granted now with
no cases for the fifth year in succession. Only two cases have occurred
in the past seven years, although cases averaged sixty per year before
that.
The death rate from tuberculosis was 0.17, a slight increase on
the low record of 0.15 last year, but better than 0.18 for England and
Wales. New tuberculosis notifications show a welcome decrease with
64 new cases of tuberculosis notified in 1954 as against 85 in 1953.
Cases notified as dysentery rose from 15 to 46 of which 26 were
confirmed by bacteriological findings. They were usually single cases
or family outbreaks mostly due to the mild form of D. sonnei.
There were also 16 cases of food poisoning, mostly single cases,
or affecting several members of a family. There were no deaths due
to dysentery or food poisoning and the diseases were usually mild
and of short duration.