[Report 1957] / Medical Officer of Health, Cambridgeshire County Council.

  • Cambridgeshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1957
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1957] / Medical Officer of Health, Cambridgeshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/38 (page 4)
    area. Fourteen of the 380 deaths took place at ages below 45, nine less than in the previous year, and 150 at ages below 65, the same figuie as that of the previous vear. There were 58 deaths from cancer of the lung and bronchus, 18 fewer than in 1956, of which 10 occurred in women, one more than in 1956. . . , , In view of the fact that mortality from lung cancer is now considered to be closely connected with excessive smoking. Local Health Authorities were asked to consider what could be done to bring the connection to the notice of the public. The County Health Committee considered the matter and decided that the best line of approach was tnrough children and adolescents and the County Medical Officer was asked to anange with the Chief Education Officer for the issue of a letter to the Head Teachers of all schools in which there were children over the age of eleven drawing their attention to the importance of the matter and giving them the facts so that thev could bring them to the notice of the older children in a suitable way. This was done but the amount of interest which was taken appeared to be very small. The County Medical Officer was asked by one Head Teacher to go to one of the schools in the rural area and explain the matter to the senior boys in greater detail but otherwise the letter excited no comment. . The difficulties of educating the public by precept in a matter of this sort are very great and it would appear that no great progress is likely to be made so long as an example is not shown by responsible people and so long as there is no way of countering the advertising campaigns spon- sored by the tobacco manufacturers. The incidence of the principal infectious diseases in the year 1957 and the two previous years is shown below:— 1955 1956 1957 Scarlet Fever 173 139 80 Diphtheria Enteric Fever 1 — 1 (including paratyphoid) .. 11 1 3 Smallpox — — — Cerebro-spinal Fever 1 3 6 Pneumonia 56 57 50 The incidence of scarlet fever has been falling slowly for a number of years and this fall seems to have been accelerated somewhat in 1957. Once again there has been a single case of diphtheria in the City of Cambridge. Its origin was never determined and there was no spread, but it lends point to warnings voiced in previous years that the disease has not completely disappeared and that any relaxation of the drive to have children immunised might have unfortunate consequences. The incidence of poliomyelitis in the County was of a much higher order than usual. There were 41 cases in all, 31 paralytic and 10 non- paralytic. No part of the County escaped, the distribution being City 26 (20 with paralysis and 6 without), Chesterton Rural District 8 (7 with paralysis and 1 without), Newmarket Rural District 3 (2 with paralysis and 1 without) and South Cambridgeshire Rural District 4 (2 with para- lysis and 2 without).