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
Dagenham 1928
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Dagenham]
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TABLE IV.
| Under 1 year. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 35 | 45 | 55 | 65 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken Pox | 7 | 10 | 12 | 17 | 14 | 138 | 10 | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | _— | — | — | 212 |
| Diphtheria | 1 | 10 | 25 | 21 | 27 | 88 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 1 | — | — | — | 210 |
| Scarlet Fever | — | 14 | 22 | 31 | 32 | 185 | 32 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 344 |
| Enteric Fever | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| Puerperal Fever | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | 10 | — | — | — | — | 13 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | 8 |
| Pneumonia Primary | 17 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 25 | 5 | 3 | — | 11 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 129 |
| ,, Influenzal Erysipelas | 3 | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 11 |
| — | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 6 | 2 | 4 | — | 1 | 15 | |
| Encephalitis Lethargica | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 |
| Poliomyelitis | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 |
| Cerebro Spinal Men | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Polioencephalitis | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 |
In the 1927 report it was shown that the prevalence of
infection of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria in this locality
was respectively 1.6 and 1.7 times that obtaining in the country.
For 1928 it will be observed that the corresponding figures
are 1.4 and 1.3. In the last report it was suggested that this
increased incidence was due to the aggregation of population
showing an altered proportion of susceptibles to immunes,
that is, that it was the massing together of this population
containing a large percentage of susceptibles that caused that
want of balance which resulted in the greater proportion of
infections. Following this line it was thought that the history
of infection in relation to the developments of the Estate
may provide some clue.
Graph 1 shows—
Curve 1—the development of the Estate in houses each year.
Curves 2 and 3—the incidence (actual eases) of primary
cases of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria occurring each year
in the Estate houses.
Curves 4 and 5 represent the expected incidence of Scarlet
fever and Diphtheria respectively, calculated on the actual
incidence rate in the country as a whole for each year.
Allowance is made for the altered age distribution—those
susceptible to these diseases being assumed for each year to
be 50% in excess of those occurring in a normal population.
These curves however, represent all cases, whereas curves
2 and 3 take into consideration only primary cases, these latter
for purpose of comparison, therefore needing to be raised by