[Report 1942-1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Moray & Nairn.

  • Moray & Nairn (Scotland). Council.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942-1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Moray & Nairn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/26 (page 6)
    T1 iFECTIQ'JS DISEASE 4 Table of Notifications . 0 4-i CO 0 Scarlet Fever . 1 Diphtheria Erysipelas Ophthalmia Neonatorum Malaria • a $H 0 >5 g u 0 ra 0 fd •H ft u f H Influenzal Pneumonia Puerperal Fever Puerperal Pyrexia n3 •H 0 a ft up •H Co 0CO pft id ft ! t !«• f H i.O ft O ft »H *H 0 CO Sh -p [d c;: d iPid 0 0p m 0 0 ft |dft n r- I Sh CV) ft 0 r-l H I3, S, 4 1—1 to P O EH To Hospital 1931- 7.6 221 54.2 20.6 0.9 0.3 38.9 13-9 2.0 3.4 1 .4 2.9j 4 6 368.1 216. 1940 1941 19 69 25 6 1 - 32 2 1 4 22 1 j - 162 152 1942 4 68 40 9 2 — • 24 2 1 7 - 4 1 - - 160 113 1943 8 69 36 18 1 - 31 12 — - — 29 I - — 1222 199 1944 11 120 86 13 2 10 41 2 3 4 — 7 1 - - 293 241 1945 11 58 65 11 — -- 25 1 5 36 | - - 212 ft 7 Discussion:- Cerebro-spinn1 Fever has been rather m«re frequent. It is a disease which is liable to make its appearance in military and similar establishments, and its increase may therefore be in part attributed t» war conditions. Scarlet Fever has been steadily with us, fortunately in a very mild f«rm. No death has been recorded since 1941. In view of the mildness of the disease, and the effectiveness of antitoxin, many more cases coulc • be safely treated at home if housing conditions permitted better isola.tic ; As ab»ut half the admissions to hospital are on account mf scarlet fever this would effect a great saving. In 1941 my predecessor reported The cycle of Scarlet*Fever of Mora;;, and Nairn cases appears to be about every 6 to years. If this continues, the next peak year would be about 1945.'' Notifications rose in 19k4 to 120, and when the schools broke up for the summer holidays there were the makings of a quite widespread outbreak. For some reason t’ incidence fell rapidly from this date, and the petfk came before its ti.and was lower than could have been expected. j< Diphtheria also has a five years periodicity. Ift 1934 and again ir r: 1939, notifications rose to approximately 140, foil-owed by substantial falls to 43 and 62 in 1935 and 1940 respectively. A further peak in 1ngk was therefore anticipated, and in fact nctifications rose to 86. Is relatively low peak year was followed in 1945 by 65 notifications, ■elatively large number for a normal year. I think that this results ivom two factors. Firstly, in the latter part of 1942, the strain of i itheria bacillus changed from one of comparative mildness, to one assessing a high degree of invasiveness and virulence. Secondly, by 1:4 and 1945, some of those immunised in the early days «f the campaign ee beginning to lose full immunity. v7e had present at the same time 4 the only strain of bacillus capable of attacking immunised persons in an I numbers, and a relative falling of immunity from a very high level. , c Diphtheria Immunisation commenced in 1941, when clinics were held throughout the County for both school and pre-school children. Now thru ( this short term scheme has been completed, the maintenance of immunity depends largely on the succcoo of the scheme f#r the immunisation of children reaching the age of one year. This kohnme was commenced in Nay, 1943, and has worked fairly well, as is shown by the fact that 1579 children reaching the age of one year have been dealt with under it up'to the end of 1945. The total number of children born between May, 19U2, and December, 1944, less the number of deaths under a year, is estimated at 2550. After allowing for cases not yet known to be completed, there are some 900 children not accounted for. Some of these heve no doubt been immunised privately, some have left the district with- out being traced, and the remainder have negligent parents. Steps are I tr ken/