[Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Burnley R.D.C.

  • Burnley (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Burnley R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The health of the District was, on the whole, satisfactory. Scarlet Fever was more prevalent than of recent years but apart from this there were no other causes of sickness or invalidity which were specially noteworthy. The Vital Statistics show that the birth-rate was higher and the death-rate lower than in 1941. There were more deaths from cancer than in the previous year, but the infantile mortality rate of 20 per 1,000 live births was one of the lowest, if not the lowest, on record. It is also pleasing to note that the number of deaths from road traffic accidents decreased from 5 in 1941 to 1 in 1942. Of the notifiable infectious diseases. Scarlet Fever was rife throughout the District and there was a large increase in the number of cases notified. The number of cases of other infectious diseases compared very favourably with the previous year’s figures. It is noteworthy that only one case of diphtheria was reported. This is the lowest number ever recorded in the District, and whilst it may not be safe to judge on one year’s figures alone, this immunity is probably related to the large number of children now inoculated against the disease. Satisfactory progress was made in diphtheria immunisation. The supervision of the sanitary conditions of the District was well-maintained and a perusal of the report will show that farm inspection received a great deal of attention.