London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
St Pancras 1914
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, London, Borough of]
This page requires JavaScript
66
DIPHTHERIA.
458 St. Pancras patients were notified during 1914 as suffering from
diphtheria or membranous croup. These figures include St. Pancras cases
wrongly notified to mcdical officers of health of other authorities and transmitted
to St. Pancras, and excludes 35 cases notified to this authority, but
belonging to other districts.
Of the 458 cases notified 32 were afterwards found not to be suffering from
diphtheria, 24 by the Medical Superintendents of the Metropolitan Asylums
Board hospitals, and 8 by other medical practitioners.
This gives the net number of cases of diphtheria notified during the year as
426, equal to an incidence rate of 1.95 per 1.000 population.
The number of deaths from diphtheria certified during the year was 30,
equal to a death.rate of 0.14 per 1,000 population, and case mortality of 7.04
per cent. of cases notified.
In the following table are set out the number of cases of diphtheria notified, the number of deaths, and the corresponding rates during the past ten years:—
| Year. | Number of Notifications. | Notification Rate per 1000 Population. | Number of Deaths. | Death Rate per 1000 population. | Percentage of Cases Removed. | Case.Mortality per cent. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1904 | 338 | 1.43 | 40 | 0.17 | 92 | 11.80 |
| 1905 | 282 | 1.19 | 26 | 0.11 | 91 | 9.22 |
| 1906 | 275 | 1.16 | 22 | 0.09 | 88 | 8.00 |
| 1907 | 345 | 1.45 | 28 | 0.12 | 92 | 8.12 |
| 1908 | 296 | 1.25 | 23 | 0.09 | 91 | 7.77 |
| 1909 | 315 | 1.33 | 28 | 0.12 | 93 | 8.89 |
| 1910 | 262 | 1.10 | 20 | 0.08 | 97 | 7.63 |
| 1911 | 419 | 1.77 | 37 | 0.15 | 94 | 8.83 |
| 1912 | 550 | 2.50 | 26 | 0.11 | 98 | 4.73 |
| 1913 | 440 (391) | 1.98 (1.76) | 19 | 0.08 | 97 | 4.31 (4.86) |
| 1914 | 458 (426) | 2.10 (1.95) | 30. | 0.14 | 87 | 6.55 (7.04) |
The figures in brackets are corrected lor errors of diagnosis. The other figures are not corrected.
It will be seen that as in the case of scarlet fever there was a rise in the
incidence, death-rate and case mortality in 1914; the rise, however, was much
less marked.
The notification rate of diphtheria per 1,000 population for the County of
London was 2.02, nearly the same as that for St. Pancras. Nine Metropolitan
Boroughs had notification rates greater than St. Pancras, and 18 (exclusive of
the City) less. The death.rate from diphtheria per 1,000 population for the
County of London was 0.16.
Other statistical facts in regard to diphtheria will be found on pages 26.29.