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
Orpington 1950
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Orpington]
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44
Immunisation against whooping cough is still, unfortunately
in the experimental stage, and there is no statistical evidence to
prove its efficacy, but one is constantly coming across individuals
who are of the opinion that it saved their own children either
from having the disease at all or at very least modified the attack
considerably. Such "evidence" is, of course, inadmissible and
as yet immunisation against whooping cough on a large scale
cannot be advocated.
Tuberculosis.
The following table gives the state of notified cases of Tuberculosis in Orpington. Approximately 18 of every 1,000 of population of Orpington is suffering, or has suffered from tuberculosis. The year saw an increase of 87 cases to the register, 50 of which were new cases, and 37 were transferred from other districts. There were 11 deaths from this disease.
| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | Total Cases | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | M | F | ||
| (a) No. of cases of Tuberculosis on the register at the commencement of year | 261 | 198 | 62 | 64 | 585 |
| (b) No. of cases notified under the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations for the first time during the year | 23 | 19 | 2 | 6 | 50 |
| (c) No. of cases restored to the register during the year | - | - | - | - | - |
| (d) Other additions to the register during the year | 30 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 67 |
| (e) No. of cases removed from the register during the year | 18 | 11 | 1 | _ | 30 |
| (f) No. of cases remaining on the register at the end of the year | 296 | 240 | 65 | 71 | 672 |
Food Poisoning.
There were no outbreaks of food poisoning during the year
but 19 single cases occurred. In two cases the agents identified
were salmonella organisms. In 17 cases the cause was unknown.
A total of 44 faecal specimens were submitted for examination
during 1950.
Dysentery.
Dysentery notifications in Orpington have increased from two
in 1949 to 29 in 1950. These have been of the mild Sonne type,
but it has been noticed that there has been a tendency to an
increase in the notification of this disease in other districts of
which I am Medical Officer of Health. The explanation of this
rise in the incidence of this disease is not clear, but it is a
condition which, if it gains a foothold in any community, will
spread very rapidly despite the most rigid public health control
measures, and the future distribution of dysentery will have to
be watched very carefully.