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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20th June. Admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital 21st June. On admission, right leg
affected more than left, especially flexor group above knee; arms not affected. Plaster casts made
for both legs. In July, 1922, the patient could just walk and was improving slowly; the left leg
was in splints and he was still having massage and electrical treatment at Great Ormond Street.
A. B., male, aged 3 months. Ward 5 (S). Onset 30th August, when right arm noticed to be
powerless (no movement in arm or forearm; fingers moved slightly). No other symptoms, and
no other part affected. Bad family history (11 pregnancies: one still-birth; 7 children died—3
premature; one mentally deficient). Notified 7th September. Attended Great Ormond Street
Hospital as out-patient, where the diagnosis was considered doubtful. "Found dead" on 4th
December, and after an inquest and P.M. the death was certified as due to "exhaustion, pneumonia,
chronic wasting ; natural."
E. W., female, aged 6. Ward 7 (U). Onset 30th October. Vomiting, headache, fever,
glands of the neck swollen and painful, delirium, hyperæsthesia around body just below axillae
and down legs. On 1st November suddenly lost power of both legs, and arms became weak.
Admitted to Middlesex Hospital on 2nd November and notified on that day. In July, 1922, the
patient was reported to be quite recovered.
EPIDEMIC CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS.
Four cases of this disease were notified in 1921. Three of the 4 cases were fatal. The
actual number of deaths from the disease in 1921 was 4, one of these being a case notified in 1920.
(In two of the cases, both fatal, the diagnosis was doubtful—see below.)
Particulars in regard to, the cases are set out in the following table:—
| Date of Notification. | Date of Onset. | Date of Death. | Age and Sex. | Ward and District. | Bacteriological Notes, &c. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th Jan. | 2nd Jan. | Recovered* | 10 | F. | 2 | F | C.s. fluid under considerable pressure and cloudy. Meningococcus found; it agglutinated with type II serum. |
| 26th March | 23rd March | 8th April | 1/1 ½ | M. | 1 | B | C.s. fluid purulent. "Gram-negative" diplococci, intracellular and extracellular; cells practically all polynuclear. No P.M. examination. |
| 9th Nov. | 9th Nov. | 9th Nov. | 5/12 | F. | 8 | L | The infant was admitted to a convalescent home in Woolwich with mother on 17th October, then well. Taken suddenly ill on 9th November and died in a few hours. No examination of c.s. fluid or P.M. examination. Diagnosis doubtful. |
| – | 5th Dec. | 7th Dec. | 2 | M. | 8 | M | Sudden onset on 5th December. Admitted to hospital on the 6th and died on the 7th without regaining consciousness. C.s. fluid "negative," but under some pressure. P.M.— The basal ganglia showed definite round celled infiltration, and the case was regarded as one of encephalitis rather than cerebrospinal meningitis. (It had already been certified as c.s.m.) |
| * The recovery is almost complete (July, 1922), but there are occasionally pains in the limbs. | |||||||