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
Shoreditch 1900
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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The foregoing table is divided into two portions A and B, each of which covers
a period extending over twenty days. During the period covered by A, the suspected
milk may be taken as being directly operative in the causation of the cases, during
that covered by B it was indirectly the cause of the cases. In column 1 are
shown the numbers of cases in which X's milk was implicated distributed amongst
the customers of the four local vendors who were chiefly instrumental in delivering
it, namely, M., P., J. and D., the rest of the vendors of X's milk, some 19 in
number, amongst whose customers fewer cases occurred, being included under the
heading other vendors.' In column 2 the total numbers of cases daily occurring
amongst the consumers of X's milk are shown, and in column 3 the numbers of cases
in which no evidence was obtained implicating the milk in question are given.* The
total numbers of cases daily occurring, whether X's milk was implicated or not are
given in column 4. The date of the stoppage of the suspected milk is marked by the
asterisk in the table. It will be noticed that on May 2nd, 3rd, and 4th there was a
marked reduction in the number of cases. I am informed that in Bethnal Green there
was on these dates an increased number of cases. The figures given under A show
that of 170 cases occurring during this period, 129 or nearly 76 per cent. were
ascertained to be amongst persons obtaining X's milk, whilst during the period
B, twelve out of 52 cases, or just over 23 per cent. were amongst those obtaining
X's milk. It five of the twelve cases during the period B which were ascertained
to be contact cases that is cases infected from previous cases which were directly
due to the milk, be excluded the 23 per cent. is reduced to 13 per cent. I do not
think from consideration of the foregoing table that there can be any question as to
the stoppage of the infected milk being associated with a very marked reduction in
the number of scarlet fever cases in Shoreditch.
In the following table are contained the numbers of cases of scarlet fever certified each week since the beginning of the current year:
| No. of Cases. | No. of Cases | No. of Cases | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week ending-January 5 | 4 | Week ending-March 16 | 2 | Week ending May 25 | 21 |
| ,, 12 | ,, 23 | 3 | June 1 | 23 | |
| „ 19 | 3 | „ 30 | 15 | 25 | |
| „ 26 | 3 | April 6 | 1 | „ 22 | 23 |
| February 2 | 4 | 13 | 1 | „ 29 | 13 |
| „ 9 | „ 20 | 4 | July 6 | 16 | |
| „ 16 | 1 | „ 27 | 3 | „ 13 | 5 |
| „ 23 | 3 | May 4 | 60 | ||
| March 2 | 6 | „ 11 | 90 | ||
| ,, 9 | 3 | „ 18 | 26 |
* It should not be forgotten that during both the periods A. and B. a certain number of the
cases of scarlet fever occurring in the ordinary courso of events, having nothing whatever to do with
milk infection are included in the figures given in the table. They are probably few in number.