Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health [to] the Corporation of the City of Capetown.

  • Cape Town (South Africa). City Health Department.
Date:
[1956]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health [to] the Corporation of the City of Capetown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    47/102 (page 39)
    Health Department of the Cape Divisional Council. A total of one million doses of vaccine was issued by the Union Government’s Vaccine Institute in what was described as one of the biggest mass vaccina¬ tions in the Union’s history. Fortunately for all concerned the disease was of the non-virulent “amaas” type and all patients made a good and complete recovery. One disquieting feature revealed by the outbreak was the large number—much larger than expected—of people who had not previously been vaccinated. Apathy on the part of the public regarding vaccination is the greatest danger to further recurrences of similar episodes. It behoves all Health Officials to do all in their power to dispel such apathy and exhort the public to have their infants vaccinated before the age of 6 months and to keep their own state of vaccina¬ tion up to date. MEASLES. There were four non-European deaths from measles registered during the year, compared with 24 (1 European and 23 non-European) in the previous year. Three of the deaths in the present period occurred in children under 2 years of age. During the year 90 cases of measles were treated in the City Hospital, of whom 32 were from outside the city area, 3 from ships in harbour, and 2 from Langa Native Township. As in the case of whooping cough, the deaths from measles show a remarkable decline during the year under review. Measles. Period. Dee iths. Rate per 1,000 population. European. Non* European. European. Non- European. Average. 1916-1920 . 7 34 0-08 0-43 1921-1925 . 5 33 0-05 0-38 1926-1930 . 5 16 0-04 0-16 1931-1935 . 3 32 0-02 0-24 1936-1940 . 2 15 0-01 0-11 1941-1945 . 3 24 0-02 0-14 1946-1950 . 1 24 0-01 0-12 1951-1955 . 0 14 0-00 0-05 Year 1956 . — 4 — 0-01 FOOD POISONING. Following a report of an outbreak of acute gastro-enteritis among the staff of a cafeteria in the city on 23rd December, 1955, an enquiry was made to establish the causative organism. Owing to the lapse of time before the report was received and the imminence of the holidays, only a few of the sufferers could be questioned and samples of all the foodstuffs which had formed the suspect meal were not available. Certain samples of food sent for bacteriological examination failed to disclose the presence of any pathogenic organism. Throats, noses, hands and arms of eight members of the staff were carefully examined for septic foci. Two cuts and one burn were found and swabs were taken; also nasal and throat swabs were taken from a member of the staff who was suffering from a cold. In all these cases the Govern¬ ment laboratory was not able to obtain the growth of any possible causative organism. The kitchen arrangements were good and the staff clean and obviously well controlled. The history of a relatively short incubation period suggested a staphylococcal food poisoning, but in view of the incompleteness of the investigation and the negative laboratory findings, the only surmise that can be drawn is that the infected foodstuff was one of those not available for examination. DIARRHOEAL DISEASES. The deaths registered in the year due to diarrhoea and enteritis (corrected for outward transfers) numbered 631 (17 European and 614 non-European) as compared with 721 (16 European and 705 non- European) in the previous year. The corresponding death rate for the city was 1 • 26 per 1,000 population (0 • 09 European and 1 • 99 non-European). The deaths from diarrhoeal diseases during the year were classified as follows:— Int. Code No. Disease. European. Non- European. All races. 571, 764 Gastro-enteritis and colitis, including diar¬ rhoea of the newborn 17 614 631 572 Chronic enteritis and ulcerative colitis ... 5 1 6 043 Cholera — — — 045 Dysentery, bacillary — 3 3 046 Dysentery, amoebic — 4 4 047-048 Dysentery, other forms 1 1 2 Total 23 623 646 Diarrhoeal death rate per 1,000 population 0-12 2-02 1-29 Of the 614 non-European deaths from diarrhoea and enteritis, 190 occurred in Ward 8 (including 162 in the district of Windermere), 138 in Ward 10, 100 in Ward 15 and 186 in the rest of Cape Town. 98-9 per cent, of the deaths were under 5 years of age, i.e. 446 under one year, 137 between 1 and 2 years, and 24 between 2 and 5 years of age. The non-European mortality rate from diarrhoea and enteritis was 22 times greater than that lor Europeans. In children under one year of age, the non-European mortality rate from this disease per 1,000 live births was 14 times greater than the European rate. The European death rates for this disease are fairly constant, but the non-European rate for 1956 shows the first substantial drop since 1949/50,