London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hampstead 1909
Report for the year 1909 of the Medical Officer of Health
This page requires JavaScript
37
NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
The list of infectious diseases notifiable in London was increased
during 1909 by an Order of the London County Council requiring the
notification of cases of Anthrax, Glanders and Hydrophobia occurring
in man. The Order came into force on April 26th, 1909, but no case
of any of these diseases has yet been notified in Hampstead. Epidemic
cerebro-spinal meningitis, or "spotted fever," was made notifiable in
London, by an Order of the London County Council in 1907, but no
case of the disease was notified in that year or in 1908. In 1909,
however, 4 cases were notified.
The total cases of infectious diseases notified numbered 325. This
is equivalent to an attack-rate of 3.4 per 1000 of the population. The
following shows the number of cases of each disease notified:—
Scarlet Fever 241
Enteric Fever 13
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup 33
Puerperal Fever 5
Erysipelas 29
Epidemic Cerebro-spinal Meningitis 4
The number of fatal cases was 21, equal to 6.5 per cent. of the cases notified. The deaths were distributed as follows: —
| DISEASE. | WARDS. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1(Town). | No. 2 (Belsize). | No. 3 (Adelaide). | No. \(Central). | No. 5 (West End). | No. 6 (Kilburn) | No. 7 (Priory). | Totals. | |
| Scarlet Fever | .. | 2 | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | .. | 4 |
| Enteric Fever | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 5 |
| Diphtheria and Membranous Croup | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 3 | .. | 5 |
| Puerperal Fever | 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | . . | 3 |
| Erysipelas | ... | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 |
| Epidemic Cerebro-spinal Meningitis | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | .. | 3 | |
| Totals | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | .. | 21 |
The death rate from the notifiable infectious diseases was 0.22
per 1000 of the population.
The following table shows the attack and death rates from Smallpox,
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup, Erysipelas, Scarlet Fever and
Enteric Fever, for the period 1891-1909:-