Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health / City Council of Pretoria.

  • Pretoria (South Africa). Health Department.
Date:
[1955]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health / City Council of Pretoria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/84 (page 23)
    MEASLES: Fifteen (40) Europeans and 14 (11) non-Europeans were admitted. Distribution: Pretoria 12 (38). Other Areas 17 (13). More than half of the twenty-nine patients were suffering from broncho-pneumonia on admission. There were no Pretoria deaths, European or non-European, but two native babies from outside Pretoria died of pneumonia. Case Fatality Rate: European: Nil (nil). Non-European: 14.2% (18.8%). GERMAN MEASLES: Three (12) Europeans were admitted, all from Pretoria. There were no complications. WHOOPING COUGH: Eight (10) Europeans and 2 (3) non-Europeans were admitted. All were complicated by broncho-pneumonia and two Europeans and one non-European infant died as a result. COMBINED CASE FATALITY RATE: 30% (Nil). EPIDEMIC PAROTITIS (MUMPS) . Seven (3) Europeans were admitted, four of whom had epididymo-orchitis. There were no non-Europeans admitted this year. PUERPERAL SEPSIS: One European from Pretoria, and a European and a non-European from outside Pre¬ toria were admitted. All three recovered completely. There was only one case, a European, last year. CHICKEN POX: Four (10) Europeans from Pretoria required hospitalisation. Two were exceptional cases in that one had developed pernicious vomiting before admission, and the other had con¬ current encephalitis presumably due to the chicken pox virus. No non-Europeans were ad¬ mitted. All the patients recovered. ERYSIPELAS: Three (3) Europeans, all females and all suffering from Erysipelas of the leg were cured. VENEREAL DISEASES: Two children with vulvo-vaginitis and a non-European with Gonorrhoea required hos¬ pitalisation. The gonorrhoeal patient was only admitted because he happened to have pneu¬ monia at the same time. OTHER ADMISSIONS: Included Leprosy 10 (5); Virus Encephalitis 2; Tracheo-bronchitis 2; Guillain-Barre Syndrome 1; Tuberculous meningitis 1. The lepers all required major surgical operations and were admitted for that reason. The operations performed included Prostatectomy, Caesarian section, Thyroidectomy, Hernio¬ tomy, etc. OBSERVATION CASES: Seventy (38) cases admitted for observation were found not to be suffering from an infectious disease. About half of this group were sent in as suspected polio cases; the other half as suspected diphtheria patients. Corrected diagnoses ranged from Malaria, Rheumatic Fever and Tonsilitis to sprained hip and acute synonitis.