[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Diss U.D.C.

  • Diss (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Diss U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (c) There were only three cases of whooping-cough. It is reasonable to expect a reduction'ih'the incidence of this disease in future years as a result of the fairly extensive inoculation of infants with the combined diphtheria-whooping cough antigen which has become increasingly popular, (d) The remaining 'infectious diseases notified were: pneumonia,' three: Erys.ipela-s , one, (e) Diphtheria cases a re no longer-anticipated in our local statistics. The disease has not been completely eradicated, however, from England, and Wales.; but the dramatic fall in cases and deaths' year by year continues In the last ten years notifications have fallen from over 18,500 in 1945 to a new low figure of 182 in 1954 while' deaths have declined from 722 in 1945 to 9 in 1954 In order to obtain oradication of the disease it is considered necessary to secure immunisation of not less than 75^ of babies before their first birthday. At the present time loss than h^.lf this percentage of' babies is immuiiissd in England and-Wales, Your Council has nc cause for anxiety regarding the immunisation rate amongst children in your District, - The immunised baby is now rhe rule - not the exception; practrtrbhers and nurses and health visitors, are active in, :immunisa,tion propaganda while mothers fully appreciate the value of the protection offered to their babies. School.-children not immunised . in Infancy .are offered inoculation by the School Medical Officer as a routine procedure. Ninety per cent of parents of school children agree to primary immunisation or-to booster” doses offered to their children at school. Consequently a sufficiently high proportion of local school children enter adult life with satisfactory immunity. The total bii bhs in Area 5 (south-east Norfolk) in 1954 were 560 and during the year 486 children under the age of 5 were immunised. Primary immunisations and .”1:gos ter” doses for school children, carried out over the period 1953 - 1954, amounted to 3,463, The schoo.l population is approximately 5,500. (f*) Pollomyelitis No cases were notified. The field trial, of poi tis vaccine sponsored by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in America and .carried out on a vast scale in 1954 indicates that a vascine wiii te found which sjhould prove an effeebivo me tied cf preventing paralytic , • poliomyelitis, , Bub it is too early to foretell when such a vaccine is likely to be in general use. Several points have to be cleared up: how long will protection last after a course of inoculations? ; at what age should the vaccine- be given in order to obtain the best response? V/hat.should be the exact timing of the three doses necessary for full, immunity? Finally' - and most im.pcrtant - comes the foolproofing of laboratory production in which the responsibility is great because the v\rorking margin of error must be saaiall enough to be insignificant, , (g) Vaccination The vaccination ra’lr-e for Area ^5 in 1954, was 67^ and compares very favourably with the general ra-tB for England and Wales,