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
Hackney 1920
Report on the sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney for the year 1920
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Scarlet Fever or Scarlatina.—The number of cases of scarlet
fever notified during 1920 was 1,085, but of these eight were found
afterwards not to be suffering from this disease, thus the number of
genuine cases was reduced to 1,077. This is an increase of 433 cases
upon the number of genuine cases notified during 1919. The disease
was normal during the first eight months of the year, and rose
after the school holidays, in September, and the incidence of the
disease remained high during the remainder of the year.
The attack rate for scarlet fever was 4.7 per 1,000 persons
living. The number of cases removed to hospital during the year
was 984. This is equal to 91 per cent. of the total notified.
The following table shows the distribution of scarlet fever in the respective Sub-districts of the Borough:—
| Sub-districts. | North. | Central. | South-west. | South-east. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cases of Scarlet Fever | 257 | 354 | 218 | 248 |
| Attack-rate per 1,000 living | 4.6 | 6.4 | 3.7 | 4.3 |
It will be seen from the above that scarlet fever was most
prevalent in the Central Sub-district.
The deaths from scarlet fever during 1920 numbered 6, which is
equal to a case mortality of 0.55 per cent. attacked, and a scarlet
fever death rate of 0.026 per 1,000 inhabitants. The mortality rate
for London from scarlet fever during the same year was 0.05 per
1,000 inhabitants.
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup.—There were 774 cases of
diphtheria and 10 cases of membranous croup notified during the
year ; but of these 20 cases of diphtheria were found subsequently