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vision may result. In view of the serious consequences of neglect in treatment, ophthalmia
neonatorum was made Compulsorily notifiable in 1914.
Twenty cases were notified during the year, the numbers in the preceding years being 31,
53 and 33.
The Women Health Officers take great pains to obtain the best possible treatment. Every case
is visited on the day that notification is received in the Public Health Department and visits are paid
daily, if necessary, until the child is cured. Attempts are made to secure the child's and mother's
admission to the Metropolitan Asylums Board Ophthalmia Hospital or other suitable institution,
and, if these are unsuccessful, arrangements are made for a nurse from the Kensington District
Nursing Association, who has been trained in ophthalmia treatment, to visit the home as frequently
as is necessary to carry out the nursing instructions of the medical attendant. Care is taken that a
medical man is in attendance on every case.
Three of the 20 notified infants were born and treated in the St. Mary Abbot's Hospital,
5 were admitted to the Metropolitan Asylums Board Opthalmia Hospital, 2 were treated in the
out-patient departments of hospitals and the remaining 10 were attended at home by general
medical practitioners.
It is the duty of midwives to report all forms of inflammation of the eye, even when the
condition is not ophthalmia neonatorum, and these cases, in addition to pure ophthalmia cases, are
also dealt with by the Kensington District Nursing Association. In 1922, the ophthalmia
neonatorum and inflammation of the eye cases attended by the nurses numbered 38 and the
number of home visits paid in connection with these cases was 974. These visits average 26 to
each of the 38 patients, and indicate the great amount of trouble taken with this disease. The
visits paid by the Council's Women Health Officers are not included in the 974.
Quite apart from the intense pain and suffering associated with ophthalmia and the possible
tragedy to the child of blindness for life, there is the economic side to be considered. The charges
on rates and taxes for the education and maintenance of one blind person throughout life must
represent an enormous sum and, in view of the fact that more than 30 per cent, of the children in
blind institutions have lost their sight as a result of ophthalmia neonatorum, the grant of £150 paid
last year to the Kensington District Nursing Association by the Council must be regarded as an
economy of the wisest kind.
Of the 20 cases notified, the right eye alone was affected in 2 cases, the left eye alone in
2 cases, and both eyes in 16 cases. In every case the disease has been cured without any damage
to the sight.
Pneumonia and Influenzal Pneumonia—There are many forms of pneumonia, but the
only kinds notifiable are acute primary pneumonia and influenzal pneumonia. One hundred and
eighty six notifications were received, 92 patients being certified as suffering from acute primary
pneumonia and 94 irom influenzal pneumonia. It is clear that many cases escaped notification.
The number of deaths from pneumonia during the year was 259. There were 86 deaths
certified to be due to influenza, the deaths from this disease in the three preceding years being 151,
46 and 45.
The Sanitary Inspectors and, if necessary, the Women Health Officers visited the homes of all
notified cases of pneumonia with a view to giving assistance in connection with isolation,
disinfection, etc.
Under their agreement with the Council, the Kensington District Nursing Association have
rendered valuable help in connection with cases of pneumonia.
Malaria.—Four cases of this disease were notified, and investigation revealed that each patient
had been a soldier who had contracted the disease whilst abroad during the Great War.
Other Notifiable Diseases.—With the exception of tuberculosis, which is dealt with in a
separate section, and one case of continued fever and two cases of polio-myelitis, no notifiable
infectious diseases, other than those to which reference has been made, were notified during the
year.
NON-NOTIFIABLE DISEASES.
Measles.—Owing to the appearance of an epidemic in the Spring months of the
year, this disease caused 58 deaths. Fortunately, the epidemic, which was not unexpected,
was less severe than had been generally anticipated. The deaths in the three preceding years
were 14, 23 and 1. Measles ceased to be Compulsorily notifiable in December, 1919, but the
Head Teachers of the London County Council schools report to Medical Officers of Health all
cases, both of children suffering from measles and of children kept away from school by reason of
the disease existing in their homes.
In view of the dangerous complications which are liable to follow neglected cases of measles,
the Women Health Officers pay a great deal of attention to children suffering from this disease in
the poorer quarters of the Borough.
Whooping Cough. —There were 27 deaths from this cause, all except one of the children
dying being under the age of 5 years. The deaths in the three preceding years were 4, 22 and 22.
Cancer.—Cancer caused 261 deaths, and of this number 242 occurred in persons over the age
of 45 years. Carcinoma was the form of cancer to which 198 deaths were attributed; sarcoma