[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Darlington County Borough.
- Darlington (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1960
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Darlington County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
33/110 page 31
![§ 3. VENEREAL DISEASES Your Medical Officer of Health is very grateful to Dr. E. Campbell, Consultant Venereologist to the Tees-side area, for a copy of his report res- pecting venereal disease during 1960, of which two extracts follow. The first extract is a general introduction indicating the situation as it exists through Dr. Campbell’s area. “ Venereal diseases in the Tees-side area, i.e., Middlesbrough, Stockton, West Hartlepool and Darlington follow the same pattern observed in the whole of the country. (1) The total number of patients attending has increased. (2) The incidence of syphilis is almost identical with 1959. (3) Gonorrhoea is still increasing. (4) * Other ’ venereal disease mainly non-gonococcal urethritis has also increased. (5) Of all new cases attending it is noteworthy that a third require no treatment—they are mainly individuals who have, with an increasing awareness of venereal disease, come for examination and in most cases reassurance. “ The break-down of gonorrhoea into age groups follows a similar pat- tern since 1957 and there is a slight increase in the under 19 years group but because of the relatively small numbers this is not statistically significant. “ Middlesbrough shows a marked increase since 1959 ; in fact the number has more than doubled in the preceding three years in respect of the indi- genous population. Non-European residents, i.e., Pakistanis, Arabs, and other Asiatics, show no great increase, but remain a constant problem as noted before in their tendencies to default and to have second and third infections. With regard to Darlington itself, Dr. Campbell’s findings are not as unsatisfactory as elsewhere and he has written thus : “ Gonorrhoea in Darlington on a similar basis has shown a satisfactory decline back to the 1958 level. It must be realised of course that these figures are obtained from the area clinics, and no information of the number of cases treated by general practitioners are available for statistical purposes through- out the country. Of the male patients attending the Darlington Clinic suffering from fresh infection of gonorrhoea, 60% of the female contacts were brought under treatment by the agency of the original patient or by the efforts of the Departmental Sister. The remainder were either infected from outside the area or were unable to furnish sufficient information for follow-up purposes. During the year you showed a natural interest in this question oi venereal diseases, with special reference to incidence among teenagers. You ,W1 ] remember that at the request of Councillor Porter copies were obtained of the Journal of the Royal Society of Health where were published papers on this subject read at the Annual Congress of that Society at Torquay in April.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29149411_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
