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
Lambeth 1919
Report on the vital and sanitary statistics of the Borough of Lambeth during the year 1919
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Municipal Bacteriological Laboratory. (Inaugurated, by the late Vestry 1899.) Table shewing the numbers of pathological samples examined, and the results obtained, at the Bacteriological Laboratory during 1919 and the previous 8 years 1911-1918, together with the averages for the 10 years 1901-1910 (Borough).
| Year. | Sputa. Suspected Tuberculosis. Tub.Bac.found. | Blood. Suspected Typhoid or Enteric Fever. Reaction obtained. | Throat & Nose. Membranes and Secretions. Suspected Diphtheria. Klebs-Lœffler Bac. found. | Other Sundry Samples. Result obtained. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Neg. | Total | Pos. | Neg. | Total | Pos. | Neg. | Total | Pos. | Neg. | Total | |
| 1919 | 45 | 315 | 360 | 7* | 14 | 21 | 21 | 487 | 508 | – | 12† | 12 |
| 1918 | 70 | 299 | 369 | 2 | 10 | 12* | 14 | 354 | 368 | – | 2 | 2† |
| 1917 | 77 | 363 | 440 | 4* | 9 | 13 | 32 | 468 | 500 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 1916 | 126 | 246 | 472 | 5 | 23 | 28 | 33 | 407 | 440 | – | 6 | 6 |
| 1915 | 155 | 390 | 545 | 12 | 34 | 46 | 99 | 937 | 1036 | 8 | 24 | 32 |
| 1914 | 411 | 733 | 1144 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 108 | 730 | 838 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| 1913 | 614 | 870 | 1484 | 12 | 35 | 47 | 130 | 867 | 997 | 18 | 19 | 37 |
| 1912 | 296 | 305 | 601 | 31 | 26 | 57 | 55 | 442 | 497 | 12 | 10 | 22 |
| 1911 | 87 | 139 | 226 | | 22 | 33 | 55 | 78 | 589 | 667 | 7 | 21 | 28 |
| Average of 10 years 1901-1910 (Borough) | 62.8 | 124.4 | 187.2 | 19.4 | 39.6 | 59.0 | 36.6 | 448.6 | 485.2 | 3.7 | 9.1 | 12.8 |
* One of the cases was paratyphoid B.
†Smearings for conococci, 6 ; Smearings of blood for malaria, 3; and samples of urine for tubercle bacilli, 3.
107 vials of antitoxin were distributed free of cost during 1919, under the Antitoxin Order, 1910.
N.B.—Since the Bacteriological Laboratory was inaugurated in 1899 (up to the end of the year 1919), 22,016 examinations have
been conducted there in connection with the following suspected diseases, viz.:- tuberculosis, 8,192 ; typhoid or enteric
fever, 1,150 ; diphtheria, 12,348 ; and others, 326.