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
Croydon 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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78
E.—REPORT ON THE BOROUGH LABORATORY.
In the year 1896, a small bacteriological laboratory was fitted
up at the Borough Hospital. This was designed to assist in the
recognition of obscure cases of diphtheria or phthisis occurring in
the Borough. Subsequently, this assistance was extended to the
examination of blood from suspected cases of enteric fever, while
in recent years a further considerable amount of miscellaneous
bacteriological and microscopical work has been undertaken for the
Borough.
For the following account of the work of the laboratory
I am indebted to Dr. Parsons, the Borough Bacteriologist and
Senior Resident Medical Officer of the Borough Hospital.
For the first few years of its existence comparatively little use was made of the laboratory as is shown by the following table :—
| Year. | Specimens examined for Diphtheria, Enteric Fever, and Tuberculosis. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Borough Cases (outside the Hospital). | Hospital Cases. | Totals | |
| 1897 | 85 | not recorded. | — |
| 1898 | 125 | not recorded. | — |
| 1899 | not recorded. | not recorded. | — |
| 1900 | 199 | 248 | 447 |
| 1901 | 784 | 885 | 1669 |
| 1902 | 698 | 859 | 1557 |
| 1903 | 1089 | 1322 | 2411 |
| 1904 | 2027 | 2494 | 4551 |
| 1905 | 2276 | 4164 | 6440 |
| 1906 | 2257 | 2485 | 4742 |
| 1907 | 2105 | 5154 | 7259 |
| 1908 | 3621 | 4582 | 8203 |
The total number of specimens examined in 1908 shows a further
considerable increase. Much of this increase was due to the very
large number of suspected cases of diphtheria met with in the schools,