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
Camberwell 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camberwell.
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Notifications of Dysentery 1949-1958
| Year | No. of notifications | Age Distribution | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 5- 10 | 10- 15 | 15- 20 | 20- 35 | 35- 45 | 45- 65 | 65 + | ||
| 1949 | 12 | – | 1 | 2 | – | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | – | – | – |
| 1950 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 1951 | 55 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| 1952 | 47 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 6 | – | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 1953 | 50 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1954 | 51 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 4 | – | 6 | 1 | 2 | – |
| 1955 | 98 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 1956 | 256 | 16 | 26 | 21 | 27 | 14 | 67 | 18 | 6 | 38 | 8 | 10 | 5 |
| 1957 | 79 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 22 | 5 | – | 9 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 1958 | 79 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 1959 | 120 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 28 | 9 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 3 |
| Totals | 864 | 59 | 88 | 78 | 74 | 55 | 215 | 60 | 21 | 108 | 48 | 40 | 18 |
The age distribution pattern has been fairly consistent.
Seventy-three per cent, of the cases occurred
in children and there were rather more notifications in
respect of pre-school children than of children of school
age.
From the histograms showing the monthly incidence of
dysentery during 1958 and 1959, it will be seen that this
disease is showing a tendency to increase during the
winter and spring, and this upward trend continued to a
marked extent in the early months of 1960 which appears
to be a record incidence for this time of the year. This
is significant, since it is evident that such increase
could not have arisen from fly-borne organisms, but as a
result of infection from person to person. It is reason
able to suppose, therefore, that many of the outbreaks
which occur during the summer months may also be caused
by this means. Outbreaks of this disease usually occur
among school-children but the infection may be rapidly
conveyed to other persons in the home.
This emphasises once again the importance of personal
hygiene in the prevention of dysentery and other similar
diseases, particularly washing the hands after using the