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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 1917
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth, Metropolitan Borough of]
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Municipal Bacteriological Laboratory.
Table shewing the numbers of pathological samples examined and the results obtained, at the Bacteriological Laboratory during 1917 and the previous 5 years 1912-1916, 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-Loeffler Bac. found. | Other Sundry Samples. Result obtained. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 | Pos. | Neg. | Total | Pos. | Neg. | Total | Pos. | Neg. | Total | Pos. | Neg. | Total |
| 77 | 363 | 440 | 4* | 9 | 13 | 32 | 468 | 500 | 2 | 8 | 1 | |
| 1916 | 126 | 346 | 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 |
| 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 |
* Two of the cases were paratyphoid B.
† Swabs for meningococcus, 4 (negative); cerebro-spinal fluid for meningococcus, 4 (1 positive and 3 negative); emyoema
pus for tubercle bacillus, 1 (negative); and faeces for tubercle bacillus, bacillus typhosus or Shiga bacillus, 1 (Shiga bacillus
found). 40 vials of antitoxin were distributed free of cost during 1917, under the Antitoxin Order, 1910.
N.B.—Since the Bacteriological Laboratory was inaugurated in 1899 (up to the end of the year 1917), 20364 examinations have
been conducted there in connection with the following suspected diseases, viz. :—tuberculosis, 7,463; typhoid or enteric
fevers, 1,117; diphtheria, 11,472; and others, 312.