London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Carshalton 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
This page requires JavaScript
Whooping Cough
The gradual reduction in the prevalence of whooping cough, which
followed the public acceptance of whooping cough vaccination to a significant
degree, continued in 1959. There was a further fall in the number of
cases from 41 in the year before to 32, a new low record. As will be seen
from Table 13 the cases were more or less evenly spread over the year and
nowhere did it assume epidemic proportions. There were no deaths.
Whooping Cough Vaccination.
The level of whooping cough vaccination in children keeps pace with
that of diphtheria immunisation, i.e. approximately 60%. This is explained
by the fact that both treatments are usually given combined in the same
injection and parents who accept the one usually accept the other.
The number of children who during 1959 completed the initial course
of treatment was 631. All but two of them were under the age of 5 years.
TABLE 13.
WHOOPING COUGH—WARD INCIDENCE AND MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION, 1959.
(Excluding hospital patients non-resident in Carshalton)
| 1959 | Ward | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Helier North | St. Helier South | St. Helier West | North-East | Northwest | Central | South-East | Southwest | ||
| January | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| February.. | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 |
| April | — | — | 1 | 3 | — | — | — | — | 4 |
| May | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | 2 |
| June | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | 3 |
| July | — | 1 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | 4 |
| August | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 2 | |
| September | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | — | — | — | — | 5 |
| October | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | —_ | 1 |
| November | — | 1 | 2 | — | 1 | — | —_ | — | 4 |
| December | — | — | 3 | — | — | 1 | — | — | 4 |
| Totals | 3 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 32 |
| Monthly Mean | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 2.66 |
| Case rate per 1,000 population | 0.36 | 0.42 | 1.48 | 1.13 | 0.13 | 0.17 | 0.11 | 0.15 | 0.54 |
Meningococcal Infection
One case of meningococcal infection in the form of meningitis was
notified in a woman of 62 years. She recovered after hospital treatment
with modern therapeutic agents.
49