[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Watford U.D.C. / Borough.

  • Watford (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Watford U.D.C. / Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/68 (page 3)
    Public Health Department, Town Hall, WATFORD. September, 1968. TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present my Annual Report on the work of the Public Health Department for the year 1967. PRINCIPAL VITAL STATISTICS The birth rate has fallen slightly for the second consecutive year and this is in accordance with the national trend, though to a less marked degree. The infant mortality rate has increased substantially. The cause for this increase (from 18.7 in 1966 to 23.6 in 1967) has naturally been the subject of careful investigation. It is due to an abnormally high incidence of premature births included in which are an unusual number of twin births. Prematurity (by definition a birth weight of 5| lbs. or less) brings with it special hazards and many of these premature children, in fact, survived no more than a few hours. It is not surprising, therefore, that the peri-natal mortality rate has also risen. There were no maternal deaths. INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES The incidence of the common infectious diseases was again low, reflecting the trend of recent years. With the rapid strides now being made in the study of the virus diseases, there can be little doubt that the next few years will see a marked decline in diseases of viral origin. Measles vaccines have now passed their practical tests and are now in use. There are encouraging reports of vaccines against German Measles and I have no doubt that, before long, effective vaccines against influenza, and perhaps the common cold, may be available. We cannot, however, afford to be complacent. Viruses can so change their antigenic structure as to render vaccines against them largely ineffective, and indeed it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that new viruses may appear. The disease known as Sleeping Sickness will be within living recollection of many. This disease appeared like a bolt from the blue in about 1918 and continued to be a serious menace until the early 1930s when it apparently died out completely. Whence did it come? Where did it go?