Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Annual report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1913
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63
are being ejected. They thus continue infecting fresh tenements
in their quests for cheaper accommodation, and in their struggles
to stave off the ultimate resort to the poor law.
Place of Birth.—This was ascertained in 335 cases as
follows:—Finsbury, 133; other parts of London, 158; England
and Wales, 30; Ireland, 2; foreign countries, 12 cases. Eightysix
per cent. were Londoners by births; 39 per cent. were born in
Finsbury.
Presumed Source.—In most families where this fact was
fairly well established, the father was marked out as the chief
or only primary infecting agent. Next to the father in order of
occurrence came the mother. In both instances the children
were infected. Other presumed sources in order of frequency
were the sister, the brother, the wife, the husband, the son, the
daughter, or other relative. In many instances, especially in
model buildings, the presumed source was a case in a tenement
on the same landing as the case under investigation. In other
examples the origin was a known case in the same block of buildings
or in the same street, with whom the patient concerned used
to work or play, or whom he used to visit and accompany.
0-1 month | 1-3 months | 3-6 months | 6-12 months | 1-5 years | 5-10 years | 10 years and over | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
48 | 134 |
Few cases are recognised in the early and curable stage—46
per cent. had been ill for periods over one year before notification
This shows an improvement over 1912. when the corresponding
figure was 68 per cent. It illustrates the expediency of a
systematised search in the homes for slight, missed, and
suspicious cases amongst the contacts in the households of notified
and recognised cases.