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
East Ham 1914
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for East Ham]
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The number of deaths and death-rate from all forms of this disease for the past five years are given in the following table:—
| Year. | Estimated Population. | No. of Deaths. | Death-rate per 1.000 of Population. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 130,596 | 163 | 1.25 |
| 1911 | 134,441 | 164 | 1.22 |
| 1912 | 138,450 | 190 | 1.37 |
| 1913 | 142,467 | 168 | 1.18 |
| 1914 | 146,526 | 181 | 1.24 |
Under the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1912,
every form of Tuberculosis has now to be notified.
Pulmonary Tuberculosis (Tuberculosis of the Lungs).
135 deaths were registered as being due to this cause, as
compared with 124 in 1913.
550 cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis were notified, giving a
rate of 3.7, as against 492 in the previous year.
The number of cases notified shows an increase, but there is
no doubt that a large number of contacts have been notified that
should be classed not as suffering from the disease, but in the pretubercular
stage.
These cases are chiefly of children who probably are in
delicate health, but show no physical signs of the disease.
To indicate the wholesale manner of cases being notified,
eight in one family, viz., husband, wife and six children, were
notified to me as suffering from the disease.
1 examined three of the children and could find no evidence
in the way of physical signs, but should classify them as being
predisposed to the disease.
152 cases notified were under the age of 15 years.
Table 2 gives the number of cases notified at different ages
with the prevalence in the respective wards.