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
Islington 1909
Fifty-fourth annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington
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1909]
128
Diphtheria. Number of cases occurring in one house.
| No. of cases. | 1 case in one house. | 2 cases in one house. | 3 cases in one house. | 4 cases in one house. | 5 cases in one house. | 6 cases in one house. | No. of houses infected in 1909. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of houses infected. | 343 | 25 | 7 | 2 | — | — | 377 | |
| No. of cases occurring in Public Institutions. | Cases. | |||||||
| Public Institutions Infected | St. John's Road Workhouse | 1 | ||||||
| London Fever Hospital | 2 | |||||||
| 3 | ||||||||
Hospital Isolation.—388 out of 430 notified cases, or 90.2 per cent., were
removed to hospital for isolation and treatment, while only 42, or 9.8 per cent.,
were kept at home. Of the number treated in hospital, 284 were sent to hospitals
belonging to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, 186 of which went to the
North-Eastern Hospital, 88 to the North-Western Hospital, and 10 to the
Eastern Hospital.
Fatality.—Out of the 430 cases notified, 31, or 7.2 per cent., died, which
is a very small number in comparison with that which used to occur in former
days, before the introduction of the anti-toxin treatment. It should always be
pointed out that, in order to get the full effect of this method of treatment, it
should be begun at the earliest possible moment, for every day's delay means a
lesser degree of potency. Thus in 1908 it was found in the Metropolitan
Asylums Board's Hospitals that the percentage of mortality among cases that
were treated on the first day was 3 0, on the 2nd 6.5, on the 3rd 10-6, on the
4th 12 9, and on the 5th and later days 14 8 per cent. Such figures as these
require no comment.