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
Wandsworth 1932
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]
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20 Report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1932.
Method of Procedure:—The following is the routine procedure
:—A Schick test is performed on all adults and on children
over 5 years of age at their first visit, and the result is read on
the second attendance a week later. If the result is positive,
showing susceptibility to Diphtheria, the first immunising injection
is given on the same day. The solutions now used for
immunisation are toxoid anti-toxin mixture (T.A.M.) and the
newer floccular preparation (T.A.F.), each injection consisting
of one c.c. The results obtained with the floccular preparation
have been good, and an additional advantage in using this solution
is that only two injections are required, while with T.A.M. three
are necessary to produce the same result. As the injections have
to be given at weekly intervals, the number of visits to the Clinic
is reduced when T.A.F. is used.
As experience has shown that the large majority of children
under 5 years of age give a positive Schick test, in order to save
time, the procedure is modified in their case by omitting the
preliminary test and the first immunising injection is administered
at the first attendance.
A leaflet describing the procedure has been drawn up and
this is distributed by the Council's Officers when visiting homes
and at the Welfare Centres. The London County Council have
given permission for these leaflets to be distributed at their
schools, and many thousands have been given out in this manner.
Attendances:—The number of persons who have attended
at the Clinics was 1,169 in 1928, 647 in 1929, 849 in 1980,
684 in 1931 and 973 in 1982, making a total of 4,822 in five years.
These numbers are not large when compared with the child
population of the Borough which was returned as 81,114 at the
1921 Census, but they are an indication that there is a certain
demand for the service.
3,314 of the total number who attended were given the
Initial Schick Test to see if they were susceptible to Diphtheria,
and the remaining 1,008 were given immunising injections without
a preliminary Schick Test. Almost all of the latter were young
TABLE XIII:
SHOWING RESULTS OF PRIMARY SCHICK TEST IN AGE GROUPS.
| Result of Test. | Children Under 15. | Over 15. | All Cases. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5 | 5—10 | 10—15 | Males | Females | Total | 15—20 | 20 and over | Males | Females | Total | |
| Schick Positive | 145 | 1340 | 518 | 1018 | 985 | 2003 | 177 | 109 | 1038 | 1251 | 2289 |
| Schick Negative | 21 | 385 | 334 | 356 | 384 | 740 | 138 | 100 | 375 | 603 | 978 |
| Result not read | 1 | 24 | 15 | 14 | 26 | 40 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 33 | 47 |
| Total | 167 | 1749 | 867 | 1388 | 1395 | 2783 | 319 | 212 | 1427 | 1887 | 3314 |
| Percentage Positive | 87% | 76% | 60% | 73% | 70% | 72% | 55% | 51% | 73% | 66% | 69% |