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
Islington 1949
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
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| Number of Clinics held | 52 | |
| Number of cases attended | 445 | |
| Adults | 241 | |
| Children under 5 years | 78 | |
| School children | 126 | |
| Diagnosis of cases— | 445 | |
| Scabies | 338 | |
| Other conditions | 107 | |
| Families Visited | Revisits | Ineffective Visits | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scabies | 291 | 19 | 181 | 491 |
| Vermin | 1.259* | 74 | 898 | 2,231 |
| (* 10 cases were treated at home) | ||||
Bacteriological Examinations.
| Total | |
|---|---|
| Swabs (Diphtheria) | 503 |
| Sputum (Tuberculosis) | 84 |
| Faeces (Typhoid) | 8 |
| Blood (Typhoid) | — |
| Faeces (Dysentery) | 126 |
| Faeces (Food poisoning) | 25 |
| Swabs (Streptococci) | 23 |
| Total | 769 |
Tuberculosis.
The notification rates per 1,000 population for new cases of pulmonary
tuberculosis for the last three years have been—1947—2.18 ; 1948—2.34 ; 1949—
2.39. This is disquieting in spite of the fact that pulmonary tuberculosis death-rates
are falling very slowly. Although such increase may in part be due to better
ascertainment, there is certainly no evidence that the real incidence is falling.
There is much concern over our failure to tackle this problem successfully.
There is no single road to success and attacks must be made on many fronts. Thus
there is the medical aspect with improvements in treatment, the hospital problem
of how to increase the number of beds for the treatment of cases in hospitals and
sanatoria and reduce the waiting period at home of the diagnosed infective case,
the problem of special provision for the chronic infective case and linked with these,
the rehousing problem for tuberculous families.