London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Battersea 1902
Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1902
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The influence of vaccination in mitigating the severity of the disease is shown by the following table, which gives the average number of days the patients remained in hospital in the vaccinated and unvaccinated classes respectively. Fatal cases have been excluded from this table:—
| Age Period. | Vaccinated. | Un vaccinated. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Cases. | Average Number of Days in Hospital. | No. of Cases | Average Number of Days in Hospital. | |
| 0-5 | – | – | 10 | 58 |
| 5-10 | 3 | 32 | 12 | 63 |
| 10—15 | 14 | 27 | 9 | 48 |
| 15—25 | 34 | 30 | 7 | 65 |
| 25—35 | 51 | 27 | 1 | 66 |
| 35—45 | 30 | 28 | 1 | 58 |
| 45—55 | 7 | 36 | – | – |
| 55—65 | 2 | 31 | – | – |
| 65 and upwards | 3 | 17 | – | – |
| Totals | 144 | 28 | 40 | 59 |
In connection with the above table, five cases should
be mentioned which occurred in the family of Mr. X.,
who was, before these cases occurred, a prominent local
opponent of vaccination. Mr. X.'s eldest son, a lad of
seventeen, was vaccinated in infancy, and subsequently had a
severe illness which was attributed to vaccination, and the
other children in the family were, in consequence, not