[Report 1944] / Medical Officer of Health, Newton Abbot R.D.C.

  • Newton Abbot (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1944] / Medical Officer of Health, Newton Abbot R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Measles and Whooping Cough cases were confined to small outbreaks here and there and nowhere assumed epidemic proportions. The same applies to the Scarlet Fever cases most of which occurred in Kingskerswell and Kingsteignton. Diphtheria it is gratifying to note is becoming uncommon; to what extent this is due to immunisation is difficult to say, but there can be little doubt that it has had a marked effect on the incidence of this dreaded disease. Of the three cases notified one was a Nurse in a Military Hospital, one a young woman in a factory, and the third a youth who contracted it while on holiday and came home ill with it. So far as can be ascertained they had not been immunised. IMMUNISATION AGAINST DIPHTHERIA. In this connection 70 sessions were held during the year in the villages of the District, usually in the Schools, which have been-placed at our disposal for this purpose by the Devon County Education Committee, and a total of 319 children completed the course of whom 259 were under 5 years of age. Of the total number of children in the District - approximately 3,600, it is estimated that 65 per cent of those under five years of age and 90 pep cent Of those going to School have been protected# (N.B# It is much easier to get hold of the latter than the former.) The main problem now is to deal with those children reaching the age of one year, and for this one is almost entirely dependent on the persuasive powers of the lady Health Visitors. TUBERCULOSIS. Compared with the previous year there was a decided drop in number of both new cases and deaths Males Females Total New Cases 8 12 20 Deaths 3 4 7 The totals for 1943 were 30 and 11 respectively. Of the 20 new cases 16 were lung cases as also were 5 of the deaths. — 2—