[Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Blyth Borough.

  • Blyth (Northumberland, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Blyth Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/56 (page 1)
    1. Blr.tb-iidtiiL* Thera //ere 741 births auring the yeej:. Of these 271 vvere notified from Mat ern ity Homes representing 36.6^ of the total births. There //ere 36 illegitimate children, being 4.6^ of the total births. There //ere five more male chilaren over the total of 368 females. There ^/ere 17 still-birtl.s among the legitime.te births and only Oxie among the illegitimate ones. 11.7^ of the total births took place in the month of May. (See Page 29). i 2. Premature Babies t There v/ere 24 cas3s of prejuature births j/ith 27 infants (4cases of t-/ins). There '//ere 9 deaths //ithin one month, and 2 bet//een 5 //eeks to 3 months. This means 40.7^ of the 27 infants died v/ithin 3 months. (See Page 32). 3. Tii.tal.-i}e.a,ths.- during the year //u,s 395. (224 males and 171 females). Leath Hate is about the same as last year, 12.7 per 1,000 population. 193 (or 4bfo) of all deaths //ere in persons of 65 years or over. There //ere 5 3 more deaths among females. The chief causes of death //ere, Brdin diseases 56; Heart Sc Circulatory diseases are 138; Cancer 59; Tubirculosis 38; in all of //hich deaths //ere greater am^ng the rrales, except Brain diseases in //hich there //ere 16 more deaths among females than among rfi^:,les. The Infantile Mortality rate for thi year is 64.7 per 1,000 Live Births (against 61.(8 for 1945 ). There ./ere 31 /iiales ^na 17 fe/riales. Age distribution sho//n on Page 4. (V/ith Quarterly Heturns received after stencilling Page 4, the inf.antile mortaJ-ity ccjoies to 68.8 per 1,000 Live Births). 4^ Cancer : Leaths from Cancer totalJeu 59 of v/hich 3l //ere among these over 66 years of age. Most of the Cases (12) //ere of the stcruach and duodenum. (See Page 5). 5. Infectious Liseases ^ (a) V/e had an epidemic of measles causing 641 cases (began late jovemb jr) , against 67 in 1945 . Epidemics c.f measles occur every other year. The previous records of them are 1944 = 743 Cases (Ibth.June) ; 1942 = 912 cases (26th.June) ; and 1940 3 751 cases (6th.May). (Dates in brackets represent practically t . date of outbreak). Dibhther ia * There //ere 51 cases a.-,ainst 108 in 1945 - a considerable improvement. (Table on Page 7). The table shc//s a definite drop in the incidence of the disease since 1941 as a result of imiiiunisat ion. Taking the estimated population of age group 0 to 4 years inclusive, '//hich is 2,820, //e have immunised 1,658 in this group leaving a susceptible number in this group of 1,162. Of the school children population ages 5 to 14 inclusive, ./e have the figure of 5,270 of .-/hich 4,625 have been irMunised. This leaves 645 un-i/rmunised. It •//ould appear there is more objection to ir/jirunisation on ohe part of fathers than from mothers of those children of five years and under. This is to be regretted. At the same time it must be remumb ered that some of the school children may have lost their protection and become susceptible * This seemis to happen bet/veen 3 and 5 years. '■This can only be proved by the Schick Test. It behoves every one //ho desires to eliminate this areadea disease to use their influence //ith parents to get their young child irmiunised soon after nine months. During the year I have iiimunised 422 children unaer 5 years and 45 over that a^e. I am grateful tc the general practitioners //ho have ./iilin.gly come ./ith the seneme ana during this year have iiMunised 93 chilaren between them. (See Pu,ge 9). ('' ■ Pneumonia *. There 'Was a rise in the number of cases, the total being (c) 58 against 35 in 1945. Whooping Gou.^h acccuntea, for 67 cases against 79 last year. (d) Tuberculosis : Total cases //ere 62 of //hich 55 //ere pulmonary cases (against 22 cases v/ith Jb puliuonary type in 19-^5). The total deaths //ere 38 beingl0«4^ of the total registered deaths (395 ) - the corres- ponding figure for England Sc Wales being 5.5^. A note on prevention is added to provide further interest to this subject. (See Pages 10, 11, and 12). 6* Clinics ‘ The total attendances at all the various clinics //as 8,882 (See Page 28). The future of these clinics remains to be determined according to ho// the ne// Health Act is going to be administered. A brief note on this is given. (And consult diagram at end).