[Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Whitley Bay Borough.

  • Whitley Bay (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Whitley Bay Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/58 (page 5)
    To His Worship the Mayor, Aide mien and Councillors of Whitley Bay Borough Council* I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report on the Public Health and Sanitary conditions of the Borough for the year 1959« In general the incidence of infectious disease continues to decline and I am pleased to report that once again not a single case of Poliomyelitis* Diphtheria* Typhoid Fever or Meningitis occurred in the Borough* Immunisation against both Diphtheria and Poliomyelitis was carried out throughout the year* An active propaganda campaign was carried out to persuade the teen-age section of the population in particular* to take advantage of the opportunity to be immunised against Poliomyelitis0 A Poster Campaign together with the use of a mobile loudspeaker advertised special evening sessions for Poliomyelitis immunisation at the local Clinic* and the results exceeded expectations* On two occasions over 500 people turned up during the evening and were immunised at the rate of 200 per hour* At the end of the year a total of 8*000 people had received two injections of Polio¬ myelitis vaccine* An epidemic of Measles brought the total cases notified during the year to 420 compared with only four cases notified the year previously* However* this bi-annual increase in the incidence of Measles is the normal pattern of the illness at the present time* No deaths resulted from the epidemic which began in February and ended in September* the peak period being in June when 125 cases were notified* Maternal mortality for the year was nil and it is noteable that this is the second year running which no death has occurred in association with pregnancy or child birth* The Infantile mortality rate of 19«34 per live births is very satisfactory* being well below the national average* Deaths from Cancer of the Lung continued to give cause for concern* During the year there were eighteen deaths from this disease* only two of the persons being females* It is well to remember in this connection the many warnings that have been given over the past few years between the connection of excessive cigarette smoking and Cancer of the Lung* I would mention here that among patients attending the Chest Clinic with Cancer of the 4 / Lung* over the year as a whole* SO/o were smokers and only 10}'o non smokers* Although smoking is not the only cause* it does seem to increase the risk of contracting Cancer of the Lung*