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INTRODUCTION BY THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
Telephone No: PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
Elinb ridge 6441-8. Ext. 25 2, SHALSTON VILLAS,
SURBITON.
June 1960.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Surbiton.
Annual Report 1959.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the Annual Report on the Public
Health and Social conditions of the Borough for 1959.
The Report is compiled in accordance with Ministry of Health
Circular No. 1/60, dated 8th January, I960, and follows a similar
pattern to that for previous years.
I am pleased to report on the continued satisfactory state of
Public Health in the Borough during the year.
Population: The home population as given by the RegistrarGeneral
is 63,750, an increase of 200 on the figures for 1958.
This is a continuation of the trend manifest throughout the
history of the Borough. Housing and office accommodation for the
increasing population is a constant requirement calling for
increasing attention by the Corporation.
Infectious Diseases; The number of infectious disease notifications
received in 1959 was 1,337 compared with 450 for 1958. This
increase is attributed mainly to the 1,139 cases of Measles, and
although there was no large scale outbreak of Dysentery, the number
of cases is 95 more than the previous year.
I am pleased to record the absence of Diphtheria in the Borough
since 1946, and have pleasure also to report that for the second year
in succession no case of Poliomyelitis was notified or discovered.
Reference is made to the campaign of vaccination against poliomyelitis
carried out during 1959 on page 18.
Two small outbreaks of food poisoning are noteworthy, not
because they were alarming or extensive, but because they were
recognised quickly and investigation by the Chief Public Health
Inspector was prompt and effective leading to the discovery and
proof of the causal organism in each case. This is unusual because
our investigations are invariably hampered by the inability to find
food left over or specimens to prove the illness.
One outbreak was of a factory staff whose management immediately
called in the Chief Public Health Inspector. Chicken was the
offending food and Cl.welchii the causal organism being subsequently
recovered both from the chicken and the faeces of the patients who
were ill.
The other was a private household whose Christmas dinner caused
sudden illness from Staph. aureus.
Fortunately in both incidents there was quick recovery.
2.