[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Brentwood U.D.C.
- Brentwood (England). Urban District Council.
- Date:
- 1960
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Brentwood U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![The following is a comparative table of notification of infectious diseases : Scarlet Fever 1960 16 1959 32 Pneumonia 16 42 Poliomyelitis 3 Whooping Cough 172 25 Measles 40 756 Food Poisoning 9 1 Suspected Food Poisoning ... — 2 Dysentery 90 1 Infective Hepatitis 2 2 Puerperal Pyrexia ... — 5 Meningococcal infection — 1 Erysipelas 1 — Tuberculosis 17 12 363 882 Whooping Cough: There were 172 cases of whooping cough during the year under review. This compares most unfavourably with the previous year when there were only 25 cases. I am glad to say there were no deaths from this disease, but, as is also the case with measles, whooping cough can be followed by various complications, which although not necessarily fatal can be the cause of prolonged, if not permanent ill health. It cannot be stressed too strongly that whooping cough is a dangerous illness and that advantage should be taken of the County Health Services’ and General Practitioners’ Clinics in order that all children should be protected, as far as possible, against it. I would draw your attention to the analysis of notifiable diseases under age groups in which you will see the effect of the first few years in School on the incidence of infectious diseases. You will see that there were 78 cases of whooping cough in the age group for 5-0 years and this is by far the highest number given for the disease. It might be thought from this that immunisation against whooping cough might be carried out any time in the first five years of a child’s life in order to produce maximum protection. I would point out, how- ever, that a table of deaths from whooping cough divided by age] groups would show' a very different picture. The younger the child the more likely he is to die if he contracts whooping cough. There- fore, immunisation should be carried out as early as possible in the first year of life. MeaHleti: 1960 was an '‘intermediate” year and, as expected, there were very few caaes. roIioinyelltiH; { There w'ere no eases of poliomyelitis in the area during 1060. , Dysentery: j Study of the comparative table of notifications of infectious!](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28948415_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
