[Report 1936] / Medical Officer of Health, Pontefract Borough.

  • Pontefract (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1936] / Medical Officer of Health, Pontefract Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/56 (page 23)
    Notes on Notifiable Diseases. Scarlet Fever. 68 cases of scarlet fever occurred, an increase of 8 cases on the previous year. 67 cases were admitted to hospital ; 1 case was satisfactorily isolated and treated at home. The disease was present throughout the year, the highest monthly incidence being 11 during December. 29 cases were in children between the ages of 5 and 10 years. There were no deaths. Diphtheria. A substantial decrease was recorded in the number of notified cases of diphtheria, there being 14 as compared with 51 in 1935. Most of these were of a severe type, and included 2 cases of laryngeal diphtheria. Complications of multiple neuritis occurred in several instances. A supply of anti-toxin is available for the use of medical practitioners, and treatment with large doses of this has, in many cases, proved successful. In my report for 1935, I expressed the hope that the artificial immunisation service inaugurated in that year would be the means of reducing materially the incidence of diphtheria. It would appear that this service has been a success. 1,422 injections were given, 535 children receiving treatment ; many other cases were dealt with by medical practitioners. None of the persons notified as suffering from diphtheria had received toxoid anti¬ toxin treatment. Pneumonia. 54 cases of pneumonia were notified as against 25 in the previous year. The disease was particularly prevalent during the first six months of the year, 43 cases occurring during this period ; the highest monthly incidence being 12 in February. Ophthalmia Neonatorum. 4 cases of ophthalmia neonatorum were notified ; 3 were treated at home and 1 in hospital. There were no deaths and in all cases vision was unimpaired. Enteric Fever. 4 cases of enteric fever were notified, 3 relating to persons normally resident at Brotherton, and who had been admitted to the Pontefract General Infirmary prior to diagnosis. Upon macroscopic examination all these cases showed marked agglutination to the bacillus typhosus.