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
London County Council 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
| Metropolitan borough. | Notified cases, 1911 (52 weeks). | Case rate per 1,000 persons living. | Deaths, 1911 (52 weeks). | Death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906-10. | 1911. | 1906-10. | 1911. | |||
| Shoreditch | 22 | 0.49 | 0.20 | 1 | 0.06 | 0.01 |
| Bethnal Green | 31 | 0.52 | 0.24 | 3 | 0.09 | 0.02 |
| Stepney | 80 | 0.37 | 0.29 | 6 | 0.06 | 0.02 |
| Poplar | 63 | 0.42 | 0.39 | 14 | 0.08 | 0.09 |
| Southwark | 45 | 0.33 | 0.24 | 5 | 0.05 | 0.03 |
| Bermondsey | 26 | 0.33 | 0.21 | 5 | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Lambeth | 61 | 0.22 | 0.21 | 12 | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Battersea | 32 | 0.27 | 0.19 | 3 | 0.04 | 0.02 |
| Wandsworth | 58 | 0.24 | 0.19 | 9 | 0.03 | 0.03 |
| Camberwell | 33 | 0.23 | 0.13 | 5 | 0.03 | 0.02 |
| Deptford | 13 | 0.29 | 0.12 | 2 | 0.05 | 0.02 |
| Greenwich | 10 | 0.30 | 0.10 | 3 | 0.05 | 0.03 |
| Lewisham | 36 | 0.18 | 0.22 | 5 | 0.02 | 0.03 |
| Woolwich | 18 | 0.18 | 0.15 | — | 0.03 | — |
| Port of London | 8 | |||||
It will be seen that among the several sanitary districts in the period 1906-10 the enteric fever
£eath-rate was highest in Bethnal Green (0.09), and lowest in Lewisham (0.02); in the year 1911, Poplar
And Finsbury (0.09) had the highest enteric fever death-rate; while Shoreditch (0.01) had the
lowest, exclusive of Chelsea, City of London and Woolwich, where no deaths occurred. The death-rates
from enteric fever in London in each of the four quarters of Ihe year 1911 were as follows: first quarter,
0.02; second quarter, 0 01; third quarter, 0.04; and fourth quarter, 0.05.
The following table shows the notified cases, deaths, case-rates, death-rates and fatality of enteric
fever at the several ages and for each sex in London during the year 1911. The case-rate, deathrate
and fatality were, at "all ages," higher among males than among females. In the age groups
adopted for the purposes of this table the greatest incidence of attack was upon males aged 15-25
and females aged 10-15, and the greatest incidence of death was upon males aged 25-35 and females
aged 20-25.
The fatality was greatest among males aged 45-55 and females over 45 years of age:—
| Age-period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notified Cases. (a) | Deaths. (a) | Case-mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | Notified Cases. (a) | Deaths. (a) | Case- mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | |||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Deaths. | |||||||
| 0— | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 1— | — | —| | 4 | — | ||||||
| 2— | 3 | 1 | 5.9 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 15.0 | 9 | 1 |
| 3— | 7 | — | 7 | 1 | ||||||
| 4— | 7 | — | 5 | 1 | ||||||
| 5— | 68 | 2 | 2.9 | 32 | i | 63 | 7 | 11.1 | 29 | 3 |
| 10— | 66 | 6 | 9.1 | 33 | 3 | 73 | 6 | 8.2 | 36 | 3 |
| 15— | 84 | 6 | 7.1 | 44 | 3 | 55 | 7 | 12.7 | 26 | 3 |
| 20— | 82 | 12 | 14.6 | 43 | 6 | 66 | 11 | 16.7 | 28 | 5 |
| 25— | 107 | 24 | 22.4 | 30 | 7 | 97 | 12 | 12.4 | 22 | 3 |
| 35— | 64 | 12 | 18.7 | 22 | 4 | 64 | 11 | 17.2 | 19 | 3 |
| 45— | 39 | 11 | 28.2 | 18 | 5 | 29 | 6 | 20.7 | 12 | 2 |
| 55 & upwards | 14 | 3 | 21.4 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 35.7 | 5 | 2 |
Enteric fever
— age and
sex—
incidence.
The annual reports of medical officers show that considerable effort is made to trace the source
infection where enteric fever cases have occurred. As was noted last year a large number of cases
are stated to be imported cases, most of them giving a history of seaside or foreign infection. Thus,
of 471 cases occurring in 18 boroughs it is stated that 91, or 19.3 per cent., were infected outside the
borough. This is a somewhat higher percentage than that observed last year when it was found that
15.7 per cent. of 735 cases were so infected. In 57 cases among the 471 in respect of which attempt
was made to trace the source of infection there was a history of eating shellfish. In 7 cases the illness
was attributed to cockles, in 3 cases to winkles, in 2 cases to mussels, and in 1 case to oysters. In a
few instances the consumption of fried fish is mentioned as a probable cause. Suspicion has also
fallen upon watercress and ice cream in some cases.
In some of the reports mention is made of the difficulty of diagnosis and the length of time which
Rlapses before the true nature of the disease is discovered. Dr. Allan, of Westminster, directs atten-
12532
(a) See footnote (a) page 24.
E