[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.

    13/26 (page 7)
    -iken by the health visitors to encourage immunisation, and the state f immunisation of school er^trants is checked, those not previously rested being offered immunisation. At the present time, the number of n-immunised school entrants is in tlje vicinity of 5/-4 Immunisations Completed ate Return sent to ;pnrtment of Health r Scotland. School F*re-School Total 31:7:41 5,776 1,664 7,440 3 1: 1 2: 41 7^5 947 1,702 30:6:42 485 491 976 31:12:42 118 360 473 30:6:43 126 23I « 357 31 :1 2: 43 85 262 347 30:6:44 - 27 8 €78 31:12:44 5 321 326 30:6:45 1 255 256 31:12:45 7 350 357 7,358 5,159 12,517 Erysipelas is a disease due to the same organism os scarlet fever, • :nd rising and falling in frequency with scarlet fever. v7ith the milder ;ype of scarlet fever now prevailing, erysipelas has diminished in frequency and severity. Pneumonia of the primary type is a disease.of low infectivity, while :he influenzal type is infective as influenza rather than as pneumonia. ?he general tendency is to admit to hospital where there is some clear reason, either clinical or environmental, for so doing. :7ith the coming of sulphonamide drugs and penicillin, the danger of pneumonia has been naterially reduced. In the case wlgich fails to respond tr sulphonamides, th.e full range’-of hospital equipment is called »for. Malaria has been notified with increasing frequency as service personnel return from •verse'as. No doubt the incidence will remain 'her for the next -year er two. Puerperal Fever and pyrexia are conditions which are notified fairly steadily, but wh*se seriousness has substantially diminished with the use of sulphonamide drugs and penicillin. Oases usually require hospital- isation, and every hospital case requires to be seen by a gynaecologist. ’< - • Typhoid and paratyphoid have fortunately not appeared in Moray and °irn since 1941. Dysentery in the mild firm (Sonne) has been rampant. Many of the infections with this organism result only in diarrhoea without the ether clinical signs cf dysentery. Many of the sufferers do not receive medical advice, and for the reason given, many who do see thei% doctors ■ :n not notified. In view of the short duration of the disease, most notifications are received subsequent to the recovery of the patient, when it is too*lath to trace the source and mode of spread. If all cases were notified and token to hospital, many mjre beds and nurses would be needed, without diminishing the liability of the individual to contract the disease. . Although I have drawn the picture of a mild disease, tne fact that severe and even fatal cases of Sonne Dysentery can occur should not be forgotten. Similarly, the prevalence of this type should not .encourage a laissez-faire attitude in the presence of the Plexner typ^s, or i^he Shige «type. Scabies is not a notifiable disease,, but in view of its recent prevalence a word or two may not be ou-* of’place here. The incidence of this'disease increases at long intervals, usually coinciding with ne event leading to re-distribution of population. Thus, it was c rried/