[Report 1953] / Medical Officer of Health, Loughborough Borough.

  • Loughborough (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1953
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1953] / Medical Officer of Health, Loughborough Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/28 (page 2)
    ANNUAL REPORT - 1953• To The Mayor, Aldermen & Councillors of the Borough of Loughborough. Your Worship, Ladies & Gentlemen, I have the honour to submit herewith my 17th Annual Report on the Health of your Borough. As in previous years, the Report includes information on the services now administered by the County Council under Part III of the National Health Services Act 1946. Details will be found in the body of the Report and in the Statistical Tables of the various activities of the Department, and I will refer only to a few general points here. The Infant Mortality figure (i.e. deaths under 1 year per 1000 live births) was 36.69 compared with 26.8 for England & Vales. The actual number of deaths was 20, and of these 13 were under the age of one month. Examination of the causes of death shews that 13 were due to factors operating before birth. In eleven cases death was due to prematurity, which is now the commonest single cause of infant mortality in the first month of life. The increase is of course a relative one, due to the reduction of mortality from other causes. The causes of prematurity are varied, and in about half the cases a reason cannot be given. Much researeh is being devoted to the problem, which, in these days of low birth rates, is a particularly important one. Notwithstanding this number of deaths due to prematurity, approximately two out of three premature infants born in the district were surviving at the end of the first month. There was a sharp epidemic of measles in the early part of the year, the peak being at the end of January and beginning of February. By the middle of March the number of •ases subsided rapidly and only scattered cases occurred thereafter. Whooping Gough notifications were higher than in the previous year, but the incidence of this disease at no time suggested an epidemic. The cases were scattered throughout the year. This has become a feature of the disease in Lough¬ borough during the past five years, and though proof is lacking, it may well be associated with the now general pro¬ phylactic use of whooping cough vaccine. Scarlet Fever notifications were also higher than in the previous year, but the cases were sporadic and mostly of an extremely mild type. Scarlet fever, however, is only one manifestation of the activities of the causative organism, the ubiquitous Haemolytic Streptococcus, which is also res¬ ponsible for many cases of ordinary5' tonsillitis and septic conditions. It is frequently found that sore throats have occurred in one or more members of a household in which a case of scarlet fever has been diagnosed. The practical aspect of this is to treat all sore throats as potential spreaders of disease by isolation and medical supervision. Hospital isolation of Scarlet Fever nowadays is only recommended for the treatment of the more serious cases, or when reasonable home isolation is impossible. The length of the isolation period is dependent on the progress of the individual case, and in some cases may not be needed for more than a few days.