[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Oswestry R.D.C.

  • Oswestry (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Oswestry R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and 3 in the age group 75 and over. The number of lung cancer deaths per year appears to have reached a steady state, but 13 of these were males and only 1 was female„ In view of the increased smoking now occurring in the females the lung cancer deaths are expected to increase in their case. Deaths due to motor vehicle accidents are down from 10 to 2, all other accidents are approximately the same at 7 instead of 6 and suicide and self-inflicted injuries are up to 6 from 1 in 1970 „ These, numbers can be expected to show variations from year to year, but nevertheless do represent avoidable deaths and every effort needs to be made to keep them to a minimum. Five out of 7 of the deaths due to all other accidents were in the age group 75 and over and none of the deaths due to motor vehicle accidents or suicidal and self-inflicted injuries were over 74 years. This indicates that prevention of motor vehicle accidents and suicidal deaths would be most worthwhile, but illness and incapacity are important, both in motor vehicle accidents and in home accidents, and must be borne in mind,as well as the actual deaths occurring. The notifications of infectious diseases for 1971 show an increase in the incidence of measles cases during the months of October, November and December. This continued into January, February and March, 1972 and then gradually fell away. Measles is the commonest of the notifiable infectious diseases and occurs in cycles. A vaccine is available to prevent measles and is being used extensively, so that the regular out¬ breaks of measles cases will probably not occur in the future. The steady improvement in the control of tuberculosis continues and the number of cases on the register shows a gradual fall. New cases still occur and constant vigilance is required. There is no quick way to clear the disease of tuberculosis from the community and, whereas with modern 2