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
Hackney 1940
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]
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27
Diphtheria Immunisation.— The active immunisation of
persons against diphtheria has been available for Hackney residents
since January, 1928. Weekly sessions are held at two clinics and
the Council pays the fees of 31 local medical practitioners who
administer immunising injections under the Council scheme. These
practitioners immunised 79 children during the year.
The following table gives particulars of the work carried out under the scheme since 1928:—
| Year. | No. of New Cases. | Schick Tested. | Commenced treatment without Schick Test. | Naturally Immune. | Immunised. | Discontinued treatment and struck off Register. | No. under treatment at end of year. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-School Age. | School Age. | Adults. | Pre-School Age. | School Age. | Adults | ||||||
| 1928 to 1939 | 11460 | 2111 | 5642 | 217 | 3490 | 1613 | 4166 | 3481 | 48 | 1318 | 826 |
| 1940 | 494 | 58 | 74 | 5 | 357 | 24 | 212 | 144 | — | 585 | 355 |
A statement by the Medical Officer of the Clinic follows:—
"In spite of difficult conditions both the Lower Clapton Road and
Richmond Road Clinics were held regularly every week, but the number
of children attending has dropped considerably owing to evacuation. There
were only 494 new cases during the year.
"During the whole year only three cases of suspected diphtheria in
immunised children were removed to hospital. Two of those turned out
to be septic throats and one only was proved to be a case of diphtheria,
but was a very mild case and the child recovered very quickly. No cases
of general or severe local reactions after injections were reported during
the year and I definitely attribute this fact to the smaller doses which were
given to children over eight years of age. I am still using the toxoid
antitoxin mixture (B. W. & Co.) and the high standard of efficiency is
upheld by the percentage (97.7) of children who were negative after three
immunising injections. Having obtained this very high percentage I feel
that there is no need at present to change to the more generally used alumprecipitated
toxoid (A.P.T.)."