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
Chelsea 1900
Annual report for 1900 of the Medical Officer of Health
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The fatality of scarlet fever continues to be very low, whilst that of
diphtheria steadily decreases, as the result of the iucreasing use of
antitoxic serum in the treatment of this disease. The decline in fatality
characterising the past 3 years, as compared with the years preceding
the use of antitoxin, is most noteworthy. The high fatality rate of
enteric fever in Chelsea of recent years is shown by the Table. There
appears to bo no special reason for this circumstance, but it is probably
not unusual when the cases are mostly sporadic, many of them being
imported, and the general prevalence of the disease is slight.
Removals to Hospitals.—Table XIII. exhibits the removals of
patients suffering from scarlet fever, diphtheria, and enteric fever, from
their homes to hospitals in each of the 11 years, 1890—1900, expressed
as percentages of the total number of cases notified.
Table XIII.—Percentage Removals to Hospitals.
| Scarlet Fever. | Diphtheria. | Enteric Fever. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 37 | 20 | 29 |
| 1891 | 40 | 15 | 22 |
| 1892 1 | 48 | 27 | 32 |
| 1893 | 50 | 41 | 38 |
| 1894 | 71 | 58 | 63 |
| 1895 | 55 | 62 | 51 |
| 1896 | 61 | 56 | 56 |
| 1897 | 76 | 67 | 54 |
| 1898 | 74 | 74 | 54 |
| 1899 | 77 | 76 | 69 |
| 1900 | 81 | 80 | 71 |
The progressive increase in the percentage of cases of all three
diseases that are removed to hospital is most satisfactory, and is the
highest testimonial to the utility of the M.A.B. hospitals, and their
appreciation by all classes of ratepayers.
Measles.—Measles was epidemic in the spring of 1900 in the home
district, but the visitation was of a comparatively mild character as compared
with the two preceding epidemics, 1898 and 1896, in each of
which over 100 lives were sacrificed. In the first two quarters of 1900,
there were only 31 deaths from measles, and adding 12 for the last
quarter of 1899, the total of deaths in the epidemic only amounts to 43.
Kensal Town appears to have escaped this epidemic, there being only
4 deaths registered in the three quarters above mentioned.
At the latter end of 1899, I addressed a circular letter to all school
teachers in the home district, urging the importance, during the progress
of an epidemic of measles, of excluding from school all children who show
any traces of nasal or faucial catarrh, which are often the early and very
infectious stages in the development of attaoks of measles.