[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Bournemouth County Borough.

  • Bournemouth (England). County Borough Council. nb2004301338.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Bournemouth County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/138 (page 5)
    ' ave occurred from this disease since IhdcS. Reference is made a iiiiiniiisation rate of infants and yonng children. The virtual dwlitioii of Diphtheria from the Borough during the last few years as led to a far too complacent attitude among ])arents, and it is Kir duty to warn them on every possible occasion that only a high S'innnnisation rate can keep the disease in check permanently, 'ases of Poliomyelitis during 1954 were 2 in number, compared dth 55 cases in 1958. The incidence of Pneumonia was rather rawer than in 1958, and the heavy death rate from this disease is l^hie to the fact that in niaiiy cases it is a terminal condition compli- cating some other serious disease. The death rate from Pulmonary Tuberculosis showed an in- i,Tease, being 0.198 per 1,000 of the population, compared with 0.14 I jer 1,000 in 1958. The comprehensive report by Dr. W. H. Ifattersall, given on page 57, shows that a quarter of the 1,200 I rases of Tuberculosis attending the Bournemouth Clinic had been * nfected and diagnosed elsewhere, and were people who had come to I live in Bournemouth for health reasons. Quite a proportion of Khese imported cases are, unfortunately, in an infectious stage of I the disease, and although many of them can be rendered non- I infectious by modern treacments, there is a constant danger to '^susceptible individuals. Efforts to detect unsuspected cases of ( Tuberculosis have continued through mass radiography, contact ^examination and the tuberculin testing of school-children, and the [results have been described by l>r. vStuart Robertson and Dr. ^ Tattersall in this Rei)ort. : During the year 1,5(J7 persons were vaccinated or re-vaccinated t against smallpox, an increase of 44 over the previous year, and it is [encouraging to note that the numbers of infants vaccinated under one year of age increased from 758 to 887. As with Diphtheria, only a high immunity rate can keep this dreadful disease in check permanently. During the year the Ambulance Service carried 88,804 patients a distance of over 200,000 miles, and with the help of the St. John ' Ambulance Association fleet, the Hospital Car Service, and the use of rail travel in selected cases, all calls on this service have been satisfactorily dealt with. The installation of the Radio-Telephone system has been of great value, not only in directing ambulances