[Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Newmarket U.D.C.

  • Newmarket (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1956
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Newmarket U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sis tor? 3 class may .have already progressed t. the state of the case was identified* they may thal that some three days before the c oC O have reached own class an; In such a the stage when they were infecting other members of their I also their own brothers and sisters in other classes,, di seas« position it would appear necessary to check the spread of .cseadCj to shut the school for three weeks for single children and five weeks for children in families having more than one child at the schoolc These,, of course* are only theoretical methods - in practice there is a very real difficulty in isolating tho children of each family from children of other families •- indeed* some would argue that by such closure more opportunity would arise to pass the disease on to scholars who happened to be absent from other schools and about in the town. It is also necessary to recall that several isolated cases have occurred in my West Suffolk Districts during my twenty-one years of service, but these cases never apparently gave rise to another case in the District - so that for twenty-one years no closure of any kind was necessary for schools because of Poliomyelitis - similar isolated not spreading cases have occurred since. Why then did the disease spread on this occasion ? Was' it because of some factors including those mentioned among the actual cases or was it a variation in the virulence of the virus or a virus imported to this country for the first time ? These questions must await the can be found in the fact that there paralysis - satisfaction mixed with few who were affected and bereaved. future for answers - satisfaction were no more tragedies of death or real sympathy for the unfortunate The outbreak threw a very real burden of responsibility on to the Medical Officer of Health and I am most happy to acknowledge with gratitude my grateful thanks to many people„ To Mr. R0 E. Hodgkins, Chairman of the Public Health Committee and Mr. Lc J„ Moore„ Chairman of the Council - each of thorn realised that on such occasions there are duties and responsibilities which entail decisions which a Medical Officer of Health eventually must make for himself - both these gent] their own responsibility !,o whilst the Public. men, whilst a war constant it, jC s^nre of this, wore They showed such all a] so aware of •oly and Do informed ana so consider all hie eiiorfs being made that one was givo-n the sustaining impression that one’s efforts commended themselves, those we serve. in direction and scope, to the representatives of Dr, D. A. McCracken, the County Medical Officer, was available each morning and evening throughout the outbreak and such measures as were adopted were mutual agreements between us - his was indeed a very great heip-y Similar co-operation, although unfortunately limited in some small way by distance between our residences, was obtained from Dr. P.A, Tyser, Medical Officer of Health, Newmarket Rural District, to whom also I am indebted-, Dr. Gcffen, of the Ministry of Health, kindly visited tho town early in the outbreak and made available as required the views of the specialist medical staff of the Ministry of Health, which throughout the outbreak kept a close interest. A very valuable and appreciated asset was the full co-operation readily extended by the general practitioners of the District and the hospital specialist medical staff at Newmarket General Hospital and at Brookfields Isolation Hospital, Cambridge, to which the cases were admitted. It really was amazing to realise how in Poliomyelitis could produce so many possible which might have extended the disease to the patients of the General Hospital. a small town a few cases ramifications of contact staff and thence to the of Mr. Williamson, Medical Superintendent of Hospital, carried a large responsibility in thi responsibility which he has to balance with the attendance of adequate staff - tho discussions in connection with measures to combat possible the hospital, were greatly appreciated. the Newmarket General s connection - a need to maintain tho with him and his services spread among staff or in 9 21
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