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
Kensington 1903
The annual report on the health, sanitary condition, etc., etc., of the Royal Borough of Kensington for the year 1903
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25
DIPHTHERIA.
The notified cases of diphtheria and membranous croup (which is classified by the RegistrarGeneral
as diphtheria) were 160, compared with 332, 250 and 184, in the three preceding years :
106 in North Kensington and 54 in South Kensington. The deaths registered were 24 (against 27,
38 and 20, in the three preceding years), and 33 below the corrected decennial average (57): 19
belong to the Town Sub-district, and 5 to Brompton; 18 to North Kensington and 6 to South
Kensington. The mortality was 15·0 per cent. on cases notified as diphtheria. Seventeen of the
deaths took place in hospitals, to which 135 cases were removed— a case mortality of 12·6 per cent.
Eighteen of the deaths were of children under five years of age, including one under one year. The
rate of mortality was 0.13 per 1,000 of the population.
Detailed information in regard to diphtheria mortality in the borough—1871-1903—is set out
in Appendix II., Tables B, C, and D, pp. 110-111.
The deaths in London, as a whole (including those from membranous croup) were 752, and
only slightly above a third of the corrected decennial average, 2,183; compared with 1,558, 1,344
and 1,181, in the three preceding years. The rate of mortality was 0·16 per l,000 of the population.
The notified cases were 7,738 compared with 11,988, 12,154, and 10,735, in the three preceding
years, In 1903, 5,113 cases were admitted to the hospitals* (compared with 8,777, 9,090 and 8,086,
in the three preceding years), and the deaths in hospital were 508, a case-mortality of 9·9 per
cent. At the close of the year there were 739 cases under treatment in the hospitals, compared
with 1,343, 1,369 and 927, at the corresponding period in the three preceding years.
The following table, based on the thirteen four-weekly reports, sets out some particulars with
regard to diphtheria, in Kensington and in London:—
| Report for four weeks ended | No. of Notifications. | No. of cases admitted to Hospital. | No. of Deaths. | No. of cases in Hospital at the end of the period. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington. | London. | Kensington. | London. | Kensington. | London. | ||
| January 31 | 7 | 662 | 6 | 527 | — | 64 | 942 |
| February 28 | 6 | 734 | 5 | 614 | 1 | 79 | 1,037 |
| March 28 | 11 | 639 | 11 | 497 | 3 | 83 | 900 |
| April 25 | 12 | 550 | 8 | 439 | 2 | 66 | 767 |
| May 23 | 10 | 549 | 10 | 469 | 2 | 54 | 791 |
| June 20 | 20 | 557 | 16 | 453 | 3 | 46 | 765 |
| July 18 | 18 | 642 | 16 | 541 | 3 | 44 | 815 |
| August 15 | 12 | 550 | 11 | 457 | 2 | 45 | 810 |
| September 12 | 18 | 462 | 15 | 387 | 4 | 48 | 665 |
| October 10 | 19 | 586 | 15 | 481 | 1 | 47 | 700 |
| November 7 | 7 | 596 | 7 | 484 | 1 | 59 | 782 |
| December 5 | 10 | 510 | 8 | 419 | — | 50 | 754 |
| January 2, 1904 | 10 | 534 | 7 | 430 | 2 | 67 | 739 |
| 160 | 7,571 | 135 | 6,198 | 24 | 752 | ||
Note.—Correction has not been made in the above table for errors in diagnosis, either with respect to notifications or
admissions to hospitals. Cases of membranous croup are included.
*Including many cases of mistaken diagnosis