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3
Borough of Mitcham
HEALTH REPORT FOR 1962
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in submitting my annual report for the
year 1962.
The general health in the Borough has been good and there
was no special outbreak of infectious disease.
The notifications of infectious diseases, at 271 compared with
960 in 1961, were the lowest since measles became a notifiable disease
in 1940. The decrease was due mainly to its low incidence which
was at its biennial ebb and to the small number of whooping cough
notifications, which keeps on decreasing.
There was one case of poliomyelitis, but it came from another
area. It was the second notification since 1957.
Whooping cough notifications at 16 were the lowest since
notification began.
The outbreaks of smallpox, brought in from Pakistan, which
started in several areas of England and Wales in 1961, led to a
widespread request for vaccination, but as there were no cases in this
area the Ministry did not recommend general vaccination.
The high smallpox vaccination rate for infants in Mitcham was
maintained although the total number vaccinated was slightly less
owing to the fact that babies are now being vaccinated later. The
vaccination rate for children 1-4 years old is 73 per cent, compared
with about 41 per cent, for England and Wales. Mitcham has probably
the most highly vaccinated child population of any borough of its size