London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Merton and Morden 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Merton & Morden]
This page requires JavaScript
The number of houses affected and details of multiple
cases is shown below.
TABLE XXV.
DIPHTHERIA—MULTIPLE CASES OCCURRING IN DOMESTIC DWELLINGS, 1937.
| Wards. | Total cases. | No. of houses with | No. of houses with cases. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Case. | 2 Cases. | 3 Cases. | 4 Cases. | |||
| Abbey | 1 | 1 | - | — | — | 1 |
| Bushey Mead | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | 3 |
| Central | 1 | 1 | - | — | — | 1 |
| Morden | 2 | 2 | - | — | — | 2 |
| Park | 6 | 2 | - | — | 1 | 3 |
| Ravensbury | 3 | 3 | - | — | — | 3 |
| Raynes Park | — | — | - | — | - | — |
| St. Helier | 5 | 5 | - | — | - | 5 |
| West Barnes | 1 | 1 | - | — | - | 1 |
| Whole district | 22 | 18 | — | - | 1 | 19 |
TABLE XXVI. DIPHTHERIA—INCIDENCE BY AGE GROUPS.
| AGE GROUPS | Total all Ages | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 1-2 years | 2-3 years | 3-4 years | 4-5 years | 5-10 years | 10-15 years | 15-25 years | 25-35 years | 35-45 years | Over 45 years | ||
| Cases | 1 | — | — | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | — | — | 1 | ||
Seventy-two per cent. of the cases were in children of
school or pre-school age.
36,000 units of anti-toxic serum were issued to practitioners
during the year, and 522 swabs were examined.
Diphtheria Immunisation. The public facilities for protective
inoculation were as described in the report for 1935.
The most successful approach to parents is made by
offering immunisation to their children at the schools. Whilst
no scheme can be really effective which does not secure immunisation
of a substantial proportion of pre-school children,
64