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
Lewisham 1955
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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Table 37
| Disease | Div. areas | Under 1 | 1- | 3- | 5- | 10- | 15- | 25- | 45- | 65+ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dysentery | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | — | 21 | |||||
| N | 1 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 22 | ||
| S | 1 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | — | 49 | |
| Total | 4 | 21 | 13 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 92 | |
| Measles | W | 27 | 290 | 365 | 639 | 12 | 3 | 8 | _ | — | 1,344 |
| N | 30 | 222 | 256 | 598 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | — | 1,124 | |
| S | 43 | 276 | 353 | 741 | 12 | 6 | 6 | — | — | 1,437 | |
| Total | 100 | 788 | 974 | 1,978 | 34 | 14 | 16 | 1 | — | 3,905 | |
| Pneumonia | W | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | — | 5 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 27 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | — | 8 | 9 | 11 | 43 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 18 | 8 | 51 | |||
| Total | 4 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 25 | 31 | 24 | 121 | |
| Poliomyelitis | W | _ | 10 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | _ | 24 | ||
| 4 | 10 | 3 | — | — | 24 | ||||||
| 3 | — | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | — | — | 15 | |||
| Total | 6 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 1 | — | 63 | |
| Scarlet fever | W | _ | 7 | 18 | 27 | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 57 |
| N | _ | 6 | 17 | 3 | _ | — | — | — | 27 | ||
| S | — | 7 | 10 | 51 | 5 | 1 | — | — | — | 74 | |
| Total | — | 15 | 34 | 95 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 158 | |
| Tuberculosis (respiratory) | W | — | 4 | _ | — | — | 25 | 35 | 13 | 6 | 83 |
| N | _ | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 31 | 21 | 9 | 85 | |
| — | — | — | 2 | 3 | 30 | 26 | 6 | 87 | |||
| Total | — | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 76 | 92 | 54 | 21 | 255 | |
| Whooping cough | W | 9 | 28 | 27 | 46 | 5 | — | _ | _ | _ | 115 |
| N | 5 | 21 | 31 | 31 | 5 | — | 1 | _ | — | 94 | |
| S | 26 | 31 | 46 | 81 | 9 | 7 | — | 203 | |||
| Total | 40 | 80 | 104 | 158 | 19 | 1 | 8 | 2 | — | 412 |
Infectious disease visiting
The Council employs two infectious disease visitors whose duty
it is to visit the homes of persons who are stated to be suffering from
a notifiable infectious disease. Both infectious disease visitors are
state registered nurses, and also registered fever nurses. The work
they do is in addition to visits paid by the food inspectors to cases of
food poisoning and by the district sanitary inspectors on certain other
occasions.