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
Uxbridge 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Uxbridge]
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Cause of Death.
| Male. | Female.c | |
|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Fever | nil | 1 |
| Diphtheria | nil | 2 |
| Influenza | nil | 1 |
| Pulmonary Tuberculosis | 5 | 5 |
| Cancer or Malignant Disease | 9 | 4 |
| Rheumatic Fever | 1 | 1 |
| Meningitis | nil | nil |
| Organic Heart Disease | 14 | 7 |
| Bronchitis | 4 | 5 |
| Pneumonia | nil | 4 |
| Other Respiratory Diseases | nil | nil |
| Nephritis & Bright's Disease | nil | 2 |
| Congenital Debility, etc. | nil | 5 |
| Other defined diseases | 20 | 17 |
Infectious Diseases : Total Notification—135.
(Exclnding Uxbridge Poor Law Institution—103, as compared with 102 in 1919.)
At the end of November an outbreak ot Scarlet Fever occurred at Harefield.
The victims were large in number; their age averaged about five; in fact the Infant
School at Harefield was mainly affected. The cases were mild in character, and
none of them died. All these cases were treated at the Joint Hospital, Uxbridge,
and the fact that they all recovered is good testimony as to the care and attention
they received at this Hospital. I could find no definite cause for the epidemic, no
insanitary condition or infected milk supply was present to cause it. I can only
think that a child brought it into the district and rapidly infected the children at the
school. The epidemic was still in progress at the end of the year.
Measles ceased to be notifiable on March 31st, 1920. I expressed my views
on the matter at your meeting early in the year; I was in favour of continuation of
notification, as I consider we dealt adequately with these cases. Many local sanitary
authorities have been in the habit of just filing the notifications and using them for
statistics only, but we did take action in each case. On the table of Infectious
Disease four cases of Measles are seen. This refers to January 1st to March 31st.
I have no means of getting figures for the rest of the year.