[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hampstead Borough].

  • Hampstead (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
1957
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hampstead Borough]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/72 (page 10)
    10 Of the 35 cases of dysentery notified, 20 were single cases. Of the remainder, 6 cases occurred in one household, 3 cases in another, and in three instances there were two cases in a family. The number of cases of whooping cough was low compared with recent years. January, February and March provided a total of 4 cases whereas 30 cases occurred during the month of August. A case of brucellosis was brought to the attention of the Department and on investigation it was found that the patient's family had been on holiday in Ireland and had stayed at a farm where the children had been allowed to drink untreated milk from a herd of T.T. cows. The number of cases of food poisoning notified was the lowest for the last 4 years. There were 10 isolated cases, in 8 of which the infection was attributed to salmonella typhimurium. The cause of infection in the remaining 2 cases was not discovered. Two small family outbreaks occurred involving a total of five cases. In both instances the cases were attributed to salmonella typhimurium. A larger outbreak where 12 cases were ascertained (but not notified) occurred in a small canteen. The outbreak was fairly severe and was apparently caused by some roast beef which had been cooked on the previous day and then reheated on the day of consumption* The causal organism was probably C1. Welchii. There were no cases of smallpox. In fact, for the first time for many years, we received no notification of contacts arriving in Hampstead from abroad. During the winter months, on the advice of the Ministry of Health the scheme for reporting epidemics of influenza continued in force. The Medical Officer of Health is asked to inform the Ministry of any unusual prevalence of influenza, and in order to obtain early information on this subject medical practitioners in various parts of the Borough were approached and asked to act as spotters. Fortunately, the incidence of influenza remained at a low level and no reports were received of any outbreak. Tuberculosis The total number of newly notified cases of Tuberculosis (101) showed an increase of 13 over 1955, but was still below