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
Coulsdon and Purley 1946
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]
This page requires JavaScript
INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
In recording the changes which have occurred in the incidence of
infectious disease in the District, the position is somewhat confused by
the introduction of the compulsory notification of measles and whooping
cough during the two war periods and the statistical influence of cases of
infectious disease occurring among the inmates of the two mental hospitals.
The residents in the latter have but little contact with the remainder of
the District and for purposes of comparison it is advisable to exclude
both the above factors.
A full statement of the cases of infectious disease notified since 1917
is included in Table III in the appendix and it will be found that the
incidence of infectious disease generally during 1946 compared very
favourably with preceding years, particularly when the number of resultant
deaths and amount of permanent injury is correlated.
The following table relates to notifications received during 1946:–
| Disease. | Numbers Notified. | Removed to Hospital. | Total Deaths. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diphtheria | 8 | 5 | 1 |
| Typhoid fever | 3 | 3 | – |
| Paratyphoid fever | 1 | 1 | – |
| Scarlet fever | 93 | 71 | – |
| Erysipelas | 8 | 2 | – |
| Puerperal pyrexia | 2 | 2 | – |
| Pneumonia | 16 | 2 | 22* |
| Dysentery | 82 | – | – |
| Cerebro-spinal fever | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Encephalitis | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Poliomyelitis | 1 | 1 | – |
| Measles | 141 | 4 | – |
| Whooping cough | 31 | 5 | – |
| Totals | 390 | 100 | 25 |
* Includes deaths from all forms of pneumonia.
Comments on the trend of individual diseases are included in the
following sections. Suffice it here to state that, excluding the two abovementioned
factors which prevent comparison, the number of cases of
acute notifiable infectious disease occurring among the general population
in 1946 was slightly less than 2.1 cases per 1,000 population. In 1945 this
figure, which was 1.8, was slightly less than that in 1938, which in turn
had one of the lowest rates for the pre-war years.
Diphtheria.
During 1946 a total of 8 notifications of diphtheria was received,
compared with 15 in 1945. All the 8 cases in 1946 and 14 of the 15 in
1945 were adults. Of the 1946 cases 7 were adult patients at Netherne
Mental Hospital, which hospital has had sporadic cases occurring over the
last 3 years in gradually diminishing numbers. There was thus only one
true case among the general population and this in a person of 20 years
18