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
Brentford and Chiswick 1954
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Brentford and Chiswick]
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Whooping Cough
Only 9 notifications of whooping cough were received in 1954, a very low
figure for this disease No deaths occurred from whooping cough.
Dysentery and Food Poisoning
There was no serious outbreak of dysentery or food poisoning during the year.
Pour cases of gastro-intestinal disturbance were notified to the Department as
food poisoning. They were all single cases. Salmonella typhi-murium was
identified as the agent in one case, but in no other instance was any food poisoning
organism identified.
Malaria
There was one case of benign tertian malaria, contracted by a service man
in Korea. He was removed to hospital for treatment and no secondary cases
occurred.
The following table sets out a record of the bacteriological work done during the year:-
| Nature of Specimen | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | Negative | Total | |
| Diphtheria - swabs | - | 21 | 21 |
| Scarlet Fever - swabs | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| Dysentery - faeces | 14 | 52 | 66 |
| Paratyphoid - faeces | - | 1 | 1 |
| Typhoid - faeces | - | 3 | 3 |
| Tuberculosis - sputa | - | 2 | 2 |
| Totals | 15 | 86 | 101 |
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