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
Holborn 1909
Report for the year 1909 of the Medical Officer of Health
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Whole Borough.
| Year. | Small-pox. | Diphtheria and Membranous Croup. | Scarlet Fever. | Enteric Fever. | Continued Fever. | Erysipelas. | Puerperal Fever. | Typhus Fever. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1899 | — | 91 | 193 | 55 | 2 | 99 | 2 | — | 442 |
| 1900 | — | 123 | 194 | 55 | — | 89 | 1 | — | 462 |
| 1901 | — | 161 | 254 | 39 | — | 89 | 2 | 1 | 757 |
| 1902 | 211 | 113 | 202 | 39 | — | 85 | 6 | — | 662 |
| 1903 | 217 | 53 | 144 | 53 | 2 | 90 | 4 | — | 348 |
| 1904 | 2 | 46 | 99 | 41 | — | 77 | 7 | — | 276 |
| 1905 | 6 | 47 | 156 | 21 | 1 | 35 | 2 | — | 263 |
| 1906 | 1 | 66 | 137 | 15 | — | 56 | 2 | — | 276 |
| 1907 | — | 64 | 156 | 14 | — | 40 | I | 1 | 276 |
| 1908 | — | 50 | 193 | 25 | — | 46 | 2 | — | 316 |
| Average for l0 years 1899-1908. | 43.7 | 81.4 | 172.8 | 35.7 | .5 | 70.6 | 2.9 | .2 | 407.8 |
| 1909 | 1 | 47 | 98 | 16 | 1 | 41 | 3 | — | 207 |
Chicken-pox was notifiable from October 19th, 1901, to January 6th, 1903, inclusive, during which time 28:
notifications were received, and from April 8th to November 6th, 1904, inclusive, during which time 6
notifications were received.
Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis was notifiable from March 12th, 1907; notifications were received, 1907, 2; 1908, nl. There were also the following voluntary notifications of Phthisis:—
| 1904 | 344 | 1908 | 152 | ||
| 1905 | 208 | 1909 | 16 | ||
| 1906 | 191 | ,, Poor Law | 326 | ||
| 1907 | 171 | _ | 342 | ||
SMALL POX.
There were two notifications of small pox in the Borough during the year.
One was withdrawn by request of the doctor after I had examined the patient
and found that he was suffering from chicken pox and not small pox. The other
patient was a visitor, who contracted small pox when travelling in the
Mediterranean with a resident of the Borough. The patient was unvaccinated,
being the son of an anti-vaccinator; on the other hand his friend had, fortunately,
been revaccinated less than eight years previously. The "contacts," disinfecting
men and I were all revaccinated and there was no spread of the disease.
SCARLET FEVER.
During the 52 weeks ended January 1st, 1910, the number of scarlet fever
notifications, excluding duplicates was only 98, 44 belonging to St. Giles and
Bloomsbury and 54 to the Holborn District. In St. Giles District 43 cases were
removed to hospital, and in the Holborn District the whole 54. The number of
notifications was only 1.8 per 1,000 in comparison with 3.6 for London.