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 1918
Sixty-third annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington
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17
[1918
Puerperal Fever.—4 notifications were received, being in the
proportion of 0.77 per 1,000 births. The cases were 3 below the average
number notified during the ten years 1908-17, and showed a decrease of 0.12
in the proportion of attacks to a thousand births.
HOSPITAL ISOLATION OF NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS
DISEASES.
There were 982 cases isolated in hospital, or 87T per cent. of the 1,127
cases which were notified during the year. Only 129 per cent. of the patients
were nursed at home.
The percentage of cases treated in hospital during the preceding ten years,
1908-17, averaged 85.0.
FATALITY FROM NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
By "Fatality" is meant the percentage proportion of deaths to attacks of
sickness.
During the year it was found that out of the 1,125 cases notified 67 deaths
occurred, or 6 per cent., which contrasts with an average percentage of 4*8 in
the preceding ten years 1908-17.
CASES TREATED IN HOSPITAL.
| Disease. | No. | Percentage of known cases. |
|---|---|---|
| Small Pox | 1 | 50.0 |
| Scarlet Fever | 406 | 94.0 |
| Diphtheria | 503 | 97.1 |
| Enteric Fever | 27 | 90.0 |
| Erysipelas | 41 | 29.1 |
| Puerperal Fever | 4 | 100.0 |
| 982 | 87.1 |
OTHER NOTIFIABLE DISEASES.
ACUTE POLIOMYELITIS.
Five cases were notified during the year, as compared with six cases
recorded in 1917. One death from the disease was registered
EPIDEMIC CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS.
Fourteen cases were notified, being a decrease of 13 on the return for 1917,
and eight died, the fatality from the disease being at the rate of 57 per cent. of
the cases notified.