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

Barnet 1911

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barnet UDC]

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36
The chief source of complaint arises not so much from
the cowsheds as from their surroundings, which in some
instances are far from desirable. The elementary principles
of hygiene seem to be altogether ignored, and frequently
attention has had to be drawn to the filthy state of the
approach to the dairy and shed, and to the close proximity of
the manure heap to the dairy, which in a summer like the
past becomes a grave danger through the medium of the fly.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES PREVENTION ACT, 1890.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

Table: During the year the Zymotic Diseases enumerated below have been investigated and reported upon to your Medical Officer of Health, as compared with 1910 and 1909.

During the year the Zymotic Diseases enumerated below have been investigated and reported upon to your Medical Officer of Health, as compared with 1910 and 1909.

Nature of Disease.Year 1911.Year 1910.Year 1909.
Investigated N'mber.Sanitary Defects Found.Investigated N'mber.Sanitary Defects Found.Investigated N'mber.Sanitary Defects Found.
Smallpox..................
Diphtheria124105248
Membraneous Croup..................
Erysipelas51216...
Typhoid or Enteric Fever......1.........
Scarlet Fever3710183293
Typhus Fever..................
Puerperal Fever..................
Totals54153195911

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Although during the latter part of the year a slight
epidemic of Scarlet Fever occurred, the total number of cases
for the year compares favourably with the previous two years,
and is 50 % less than in 1908, when 107 cases occurred.
A pleasing feature is the continued low number of cases
of Diphtheria notified, as this condition is more closely
associated with insanitary conditions than Scarlet Fever,
which is spread to a great extent by personal infection.
In combating infectious diseases, a factor is becoming
yearly increasingly more important, namely, the