[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Bolton County Borough.

  • Bolton (Greater Manchester, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Bolton County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    194/212 (page 26)
    INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN CHILDREN Once again measles was the infectious disease with the greatest incidence. A total of 1,057 cases were notified among children under school leaving age. Although the total number of notifications was high, the incidence was quite low during the first ten months of the year. The numbers began to rise in the autumn, and in November there were 144 cases and in December 637. This high incidence has continued into the following year. The incidence of dysentery was also high during 1960, 317 cases being notified during the year, but in this case the main incidence occurred in the early months of the year. There had been an increase in the incidence of dysen- tery during the last quarter of 1959 and this increase continued into the early part of 1960. The peak was reached in February when 84 cases were notified. The numbers thereafter declined and from June onwards only a handful of cases were notified. The number of cases of scarlet fever was lower than in the preceding year— 183 compared with 232. The number of cases of whooping cough once again showed an increase, 175 compared with 100 in 1959. This figure is still extremely low in comparison with the rates which were prevalent before immunisation against whooping cough was available, and there is no reason to doubt the value of the immunisa- tion procedure. The number of cases has now reached such a low level that the fluctuation from year to year is of little significance. There was only one case of poliomyelitis in the borough during the year. This occurred in a pre-school child aged eighteen months. The incidence of food poisoning was quite low, a total of 31 cases being notified during the year. Incidence of Infection: The number of cases of infectious diseases each month was as follows:— Number of Cases Disease Total Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July] Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Scarlet Fever 33 24 21 15 15 13 8 3 5 20 12 14 183 Measles 24 9 13 6 37 30 29 59 15 54 144 637 1,057 Whooping Cough 7 10 22 8 27 19 25 17 7 8 14 11 175 Pneumonia Poliomyelitis 4 8 4 3 “ 1 1 — 1 1 3 3 29 Paralytic Non-Paralytic . . 1 1 Enteric Fever (Paratyphoid B) Dysentery 69 84 71 42 20 8 4 11 1 4 3 317 Food Poisoning Erysipelas Diphtheria 5 3 4 3 3 2 1 3 3 4 31 Meningococcal Infection Acute Encephalitis 3 1 3 1