[Report 1927] / Medical Officer of Health, St Andrews.

  • St. Andrews (Scotland). Council.
Date:
1927
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    INFECTIOUS DISEASES. The total number of notifications made to the Medical Officer of Health was 102. Classified according to diseases these were as follows — Scarlet Fever, .. .. .. .. 10 Diphtheria, .. .. .. .. .. 7 Erysipelas, .. .. .. .. .. 1 Puerperal Fever, .. .. .. .. 1 Ophthalmia Neonatorum, .. .. .. 1 Chickenpox, .. .. .. .. 10 Malaria, .. .. .. .. .. 1 Dysentery, . . .. .. .. .. 33 Acute Primary Pneumonia, .. .. .. 18 Acute Influenzal Pneumonia, .. .. .. 2 Pulmonary Tuberculosis, .. .. .. 12 Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis, .. .. 6 Total, .. .. .. .. 102 Forty-one cases were removed to hospital and 61 were treated at home. Classified according to disease the number of cases treated in hospital was as follows, the average stay of patients in the City Hospital being 26 days :— City Other Hospital. Institutions. Scarlet Fever, 10 — Diphtheria, 6 — Puerperal Fever, 1 — Chickenpox, — 8 Dysentery, 4 — Acute Primary Pneumonia, — 6 Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis, .. 1 5 Total, 22 19 In addition three cases were admitted to the City Hospital for purposes of observation. Two of these were cases who were suspected to be suffering from Encephalitis Lethargica but who turned out to be influenza in the one case and shock complicated by a tuberculous condition of the right apex in the other. The third case was one of mumps complicated by nephritis, so that in all 25 cases were treated in the City Hospital.
    No text description is available for this image
    similar argument might be used against diphtheria immunisation, were it not for the fact that it is comparatively easy to detect, by bacteriological means, the carrier of the germs of diphtheria, while it is a difficult matter to identify a carrier of the germs of scarlet fever. Until such time as our knowledge of the casual agent of Scarlatina has been more fully amplified, this preventive measure will not be actively prosecuted. Ophthalmia Neonatorum. One infant, less than twenty-one days old, with discharge from the eyes, was reported in terms of the Regulation. There was no evidence of a gonorrhoeal infection. Chickenpox and Smallpox. Chickenpox became compulsorily notifiable throughout Scot- land on 25th March 1927. Since that date 10 cases were notified, 8 of them occurring in St. Leonards School and 2 of them in the town. No cases of Smallpox occurred in the Burgh during the year. As a result, however, of an outbreak of that disease in Dundee in March, considerable precautions were taken against spread of infection to St. Andrews. It was not deemed advisable to institute a wide campaign of public vaccination but all mothers attending the Mother and Child Welfare Clinics were urged to have their children vaccinated and, through the local practi- tioners and the Press, it was strongly advised that all those who travelled to Dundee should take similar steps. As a result, from figures submitted by the doctors concerned and from the records of the Health Department, it was estimated that some 400 persons were vaccinated. The majority of these were adults who worked in or visited Dundee. So far as is known, 4 persons only were in direct contact with an infected case. These and all the members of their households were vaccinated. One of the contacts was occupied in a Depot issuing clothing to the girls in St. Leonards School. She was isolated until the expii’y of her incubation period. Investigation was made into the number of persons in St. Andrews who make a statutory declaration of conscientious objection to vaccination. Comparing the number of infants,