[Report 1926] / Medical Officer of Health, Warwickshire County Council.

  • Warwickshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1926] / Medical Officer of Health, Warwickshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    15 Small-pox.—It is gratifying to record an entire absence of this disease from the County during the year under review, particularly in view of the fact that the disease was dis¬ tinctly on the increase throughout the country generally during 1926. This apparent im¬ munity is, however, the result of good luck rather than good guidance, as the vaccination returns for the County can hardly be regarded with satisfaction. The return shown on Table D of the Appendix refers to the year ending 30th June, 1926, and records the result during that period of Infantile Vaccination only. It shews that less than one-third of the registered births in the County are at present successfully vaccinated, and that 56 per cent, of the parents obtained certificates of conscientious objection as compared with 54 per cent, in 1925 and 50 per cent, in 1924. 16. Scarlet Fever. While 681 cases of this disease were notified during the year as against 787 in the previous year, only one death was recorded, giving a mortality per 1,000 of popula¬ tion of 0.002, as compared with 0.01 in 1925. There is recorded, therefore, a reduction both, in incidence and in severity. The disease was distributed fairly generally throughout the County. 17. Diphtheria. This disease has remained prevalent throughout the year, although there has been a slight reduction in the number of notifications—504—as compared with the previous year’s figures of 542. It has continued in epidemic form since 1925 in the Rural Districts of Atherstone and Tamworth, where there have been notified in 1926, 191 and 122 cases respectively, the number of deaths in these two districts being also respectively 6 and 10. The mortality for the whole County was 0.08 per 1,000 of population, as against 0.09 in 1925, and the case mortality 6.1 per cent., the total deaths registered being 31. 18. Enteric Fever.—The number of notifications and deaths registered from this cause were the same as recorded in the previous year, eight notifications and two deaths, giving the low mortality of 0.005 per 1,000 of population. Three of the eight cases were found to be of the Para-Typhoid type, the remaining five being true Typhoid. 19. Encephalitis Lethargica.—33 notifications of this disease were received, 14 in the Urban and 19 in the Rural Districts. There were 21 deaths registered, giving a mortality of 0.05 per 1,000 of population and a high case mortality of 63.6 per cent. Of the remaining 12 survivors, there is little doubt but that the majority will be left with some permanent defect, mental, moral, or physical, which will handicap both patients and relatives for the remaining years of the patient’s life. The age distribution of the 21 deaths is of interest, no death being registered under the age of 2 to 5 years. Age Period. 0—1 years 1—2 99 2—5 99 5—15 9 9 15—25 9 9 25—45 9 9 45—65 9 9 65—75 9 9 75 and over No. of Deaths. 2 5 3 2 7 2 Total ... 21 '• Acute Poliomyelitis and Polio-encephalitis.—Of these two diseases there were 25 noti¬ fications and 5 deaths. The age periods of these deaths is unfortunately not recorded in the Registrar General’s tables, but I am informed they were as follows :—