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
Mitcham 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Mitcham]
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Ophthalmia Neonatorum
During the year one case of ophthalmia neonatorum was notified:—
| Cases Notified. | Treated | Vision Unimpaired. | Vision Impaired. | Total Blindness. | Deaths. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At Home. | In Hospital. | |||||
| 1 | nil. | 1 | 1 | nil. | nil. | nil. |
School Notifications
The school intimation notices of infectious disease are always
compared with the notifications received from the medical
practitioners. If any case on the school return is found to be
unnotified, investigations are made in order to find out if the
patient is receiving medical attention.
The school notices also give a fairly accurate estimate of
the prevalence of non-notifiable infectious disease, such as
chicken pox, measles, mumps, etc. The numbers so notified
are reported on under various diseases mentioned later in this
report.
Cancer
The number of deaths from cancer registered during the year
was 76, of which 33 were males and 43 were females, as compared
with 80 deaths last year.
Cancer is mainly a disease of the digestive system, with the
exception of its preference for the generative system in females.
The site distribution for 1937 was as follows:—
Digestive organs 38 cases
Genito-urinary organs 12 „
Breast 6 „
Respiratory system 9 „
Other sites 11 „
Total 76 „
The following table shows the number of deaths from cancer,
together with the death rate as compared with England and
Wales:—