[Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Benfleet U.D.C., Canvey Island U.D.C., Rayleigh U.D.C., Rochford R.D.C. (South East Essex).

  • Benfleet (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Benfleet U.D.C., Canvey Island U.D.C., Rayleigh U.D.C., Rochford R.D.C. (South East Essex). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    there is less varietj’ in the type of Salmonella notified. Whether these ehanges are due to our elean food campaign of 1961, the steady imple- mentation of the Clean h'ood Act of 195.S, or to the pasteurisation of imported food products, esi)ecially egg ]iroducts, is a matter for conjec- ture. Sccirli’l I'cvcr One hundred and fifteen cases were notified, an increase of 66 over the previous year, h'ortunatelv the disease continues to occur in a mild form. Tuberculosis The number of cases on the tuberculosis register rose by 42 to 548 at the 31st December, 1964, the rise being jiartly due to excess of inward over outward transfers and partly to improved prognosis. Thirty-seven new cases were notified (32 pulmonary) a welcome improvement over the 44 new cases reported in 1963. Table B overleaf demonstates this return to a figure more in line with previous years but there is no room for complacency because with improved control over the infectivitv of the disease one might have hoped for a progressive fall in the notification rate. There were in 1964 nine deaths of patients on the register but of these only four actually died of tuberculosis. Table A gives a brief summary of these figures and a detailed analysis may be found in Table 10 of Appendix A. Because of the somewhat higher incidence of tuberculosis in Canvev Island during 1963, particularly marked in the age-group sixty-five and over, it was decided to undertake a special Mass Radiography Campaign in the Spring of 1964. In order to attract this particular age-group, who are notoriously chary of attending for X-ray, the Canvey Island Urban District Council offered ‘ prizes ’ of three television sets to selected persons drawn from the pensioners group attending for chest X-rav. The co-operation of voluntary bodies and family doctors was sought and as much newspaper and radio publicity as possible was obtained. The result was moderately satisfactory, some 15% of this group attending, over three times as many as at the previous visit of the Mass Radiographv Unit: nor did this influence adversely the reaction of younger persons as they also attended in slightly increased numbers. Of the pensioners X-rayed, one old lady was found to be a case of open tubercu- losis and the discovery of this case was sufficient to make the project worth while. Preparations for this campaign had to be made in a few short weeks. It is felt that given more time, more careful planning would have been possible; the work of a Health Education Officer ‘ on the ground ’ would have been invaluable, (iiven these circumstances better results could be obtained. This project demanded and obtained the closest possible co-opera- tion of Chest Clinic, Mass Radiograjfliy Unit and Local Authority. The Mobile Ibiit also \'isitcd a number of sites in the Benfleet, Rayleigh and Rochford Districts. Here too, co-operation was excellent.