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
Fulham 1908
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1908
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32
DIPHTHERIA.
The cases of Diphtheria notified in the four quarters of the year were as under:—
| Cases. | Deaths. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | 101 | 6 |
| 2nd „ | 63 | 1 |
| 3rd „ | 97 | 11 |
| 4th„ | 139 | 14 |
| 400 | 32 |
Compared with 1907, when 606 cases were notified, the
disease showed a marked decline, but it was, as usual, proportionally
more prevalent in Fulham than in the County of
London, the respective case rates being 25 and 17 per 10,000
of the population.
The 400 cases occurred in 359 houses, as under:—
| Houses with one case | 325 |
| „ „ two cases | 28 |
| „ three „ | 5 |
| „ four „ | 1 |
Isolation.—354, or 88.5 per cent., of those certified to be
suffering from the disease, were removed to the hospital for
treatment.
Fatality.—32 cases terminated fatally, representing a casemortality
of 8 per cent., compared with 6.3, 8.2, and 8.4 in the
three preceding years.
The decline in the fatality of diphtheria of recent years will
be seen from the subjoined table. This is largely owing to the
use of antitoxic serum, but the detection by bacteriological examination
of very mild cases which formerly escaped notice has
also assisted in lowering the fatality rate.