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
St Pancras 1921
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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47
SCARLET FEVER.
1,713 patients were notified in 1921 as suffering from scarlet fever. Of these 61 were
afterwards reported not to be suffering from the disease by medical superintendents of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board, and 3 by other medical practitioners.
The corrected number of scarlet fever cases notified was, therefore, 1,649, equal to an
incidence rate of 7.7 per 1,000 population.
The number of deaths from scarlet fever certified during the year was 7, equal to a deathrate
of 0.03 per 1,000 population, and a case mortality of 0.42 per cent. of cases notified.
This is the lowest case mortality for the disease ever recorded for St. Pancras.
In the following table are set out the corresponding figures for the past 10 years:—
| Year. | No. of Notifications. | Notification rate per 1,000 Population. | No. of Deaths. | Death Kate per 1,000 Population. | Case Mortality per cent. | Percentage of Cases removed to Hospital. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | 598 | 2.7 | 5 | 0.02 | 0.8 | 97 |
| 1913 | *536 | *2.4 | 6 | 0.03 | *1.1 | 94 |
| 1914 | 1,180 | 5.4 | 19 | 0.09 | 1.6 | 91 |
| 1915 | 900 | 4.1 | 22 | 0.10 | 2.4 | 96 |
| 1916 | 404 | 2.0 | 8 | 0.04 | 2.0 | 96 |
| 1917 | 224 | 1.2 | 4 | 0.02 | 1.8 | 97 |
| 1918 | 289 | 1.6 | 7 | 0.04 | 2.4 | 96 |
| 1919 | 516 | 2.3 | 5 | 0.02 | 1.0 | 96 |
| 1920 | 808 | 3.5 | 11 | 0.05 | 1.4 | 96 |
| 1921 | 1,649 | 7.7 | 7 | 0.03 | ' 0.4 | 96 |
| * From 1913 onwards the figures have been corrected for errors of diagnosis. | ||||||
It will be seen from the table that there has been a wave of increasing prevalence of the
disease since 1917, when it reached the lowest point on record. Fortunately the mortality
has not increased at the same rate.
Of the notified cases of scarlet fever, 1,642 (or 95.9 per cent) were removed to hospital,
as follows:—
To Metropolitan Asylums Board hospitals 1,634
To other hospitals ,. 8
1,642
(Other statistical facts will be found on pag es 34 to 36.)
Return cases.— (Definition : A case of scarlet fever occurring within 28 days of the return
from hospital to the same house of a previous case of scarlet fever.)
Such return cases occurred at 67 houses during 1921. In 54 instances only one return
case occurred in the house, but in the other 13 houses other cases of scarlet fever followed the
occurrence of the return case; in each of 9 houses there was one such additional case, in each of
2 houses, 2 additional cases, and in each of 2 houses, 3 additional cases, the total number of
return cases being 86. In the following analysis only the 67 first return cases are considered.
Their distribution according to the month in which they occurred was as follows :—
January 6 April 1 July 1 October 4
February 2 May 3 August 5 November 12
March 4 June 6 September 6 December 17
In 59 instances the return case occurred in the family to which the (?) infecting case returned,
and in 8 in a different family in the same house.