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
Finsbury 1902
Report on the public health of 1902
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59
DIPHTHERIA.
There have been 216 notifications of Diphtheria (including
Membranous Croup) received during the year. This shows a
considerable decrease on last year, when there were 289 cases.
The age incidence of Diphtheria and its mortality for 1902 was as follows:—
| Ages in Years | Under 1 year | 1-5 | 5-15 | 15-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Notified Cases | Males | 7 | 46 | 22 | 8 | 5 | — | 1 | 89 |
| Females | 3 | 52 | 51 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 127 | |
| Total | 10 | 98 | 73 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 216 | |
| Deaths from Diphtheria. | 5 | 23 | 9 | — | — | — | — | 37 | |
| Percentage on Cases. | 50.0 | 23.4 | 12.3 | — | — | — | — | 17.1 | |
It will be seen that the chief incidence of the disease has
fallen upon young children ; and as many as 171 out of the
216 were of school age.
The following table shows the seasonal occurrence of the cases of Diphtheria notified to us:—
| Months | Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | April. | May. | June | July. | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Cases | 28 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 27 | 21 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 14 |
| Total | 60 | 49 | 60 | 47 | ||||||||
The cases of Diphtheria have been evenly distributed throughout
the Borough, the southern portion of northern Clerkenwell,