[Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Ross & Whitchurch R.D.C.

  • Ross and Whitchurch (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Ross & Whitchurch R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The efficiency of notification appears to be good except in respect to measles and whooping cough. These diseases are confined almost exclusively to young children and in many instances no doctor is called and the disease is not recognised. Notifications arc seldom received from parents,-. As a result the true incidence of these diseases is probably greater than the figures of notifications would suggest. Scabies:- The number of cases of scabies which were brought to the notice of the Department war; 11, This represents a decrease upon the figure for the previous year* but, as the notification of this disease is not compulsory- th:.s figure does not represent the full incidence of this diseasev but At does thow that the incidence is greater than in the pre-war years. Scabies is a most difficult disease to deal with in a Rural District as the Council has no clinics in which treatment can be carried out under the supervision of skilled staff and all treatment must be carried out in the home with very few exceptions. Many of the dwellings have no bath and water supplies are often a handicap. Diphtheria Immunisation:- Progress with this scheme continued to be steady, if not spectacular. The scheme is operated in part by the Department and in part by the practitioners practising in the District. All immunisation being free to persons under 16 years of age, the pra&titioners being remunerated by the Council on agreed terms. The scheme v/orks smoothly and the practitioners of the District have co¬ operated extremely well, i The prophylactics used are Alum Precipitated Toxoid (A.P.T,) and Toxoid Antitoxin Ploccules (T.A,P.). The following ta.ble summarises the work carried out during the year:- Age Group 1-5 Year’s. ...-] 5-15 Years, 5- 1-15 Years. 1stu Quarter ; 52 41 93 2nd.., Qua. *ter 15. b 21 3vd, Quarter ’ 9 8 17 ' 4th. Quarter i 25 23 43 Whole Year ; 101 78 179 The percentage of the child population under five years of age regarded as being immunised at the end of the year was 35.5 and for the 5-15 years group this figure is 72, These figures are probably too low as they are calculated upon the actual age groups of the population and this embraces a number of private residential schools which run Diphtheria Immunisation Schemes distinct from the^ Council’s Scheme, with the result that the Department does not obtain returns of the number of children thus Immunised. There is neither the staff nor the time available to carry out any post Schick Tests, in fact to obtain the present figures assistance by the staff of the County Public Health Deportment has been necessary. Only 2 notifications of Diphtheria were received relating to children under 15 years of age. Neither had received courses of prophyllactic and one case was fa.tal. Continuous propaganda preferably on a co-ordinated national and local basis appears to be necessary to maintain public interest in this most important preventive measure. Tuberculosis:- At the commencement of the year there were 34 names on the Tuberculosis Register, of these 23 related to the pulmonary form and 11 to other forms. There were 15 new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis