London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Finsbury 1927
Annual report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1927
This page requires JavaScript
50
The death rates in Finsbury in 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927, have
been less than those prevailing over London as a whole. As a
rule, with the exception of 1926 and 1927, the death rates per 1,000
population in Finsbury have been larger than those over the whole
of England and Wales.
Case Mortality per 100 Cases.
| Year. | Finsbury. | London | England and Wales. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 12.5 | 7.7 | 8.1 |
| 1921 | 11.1 | 6.9 | 7.2 |
| 1922 | 8.8 | 7.4 | 7.8 |
| 1923 | 3.07 | 5.7 | 6.7 |
| 1924 | 8.6 | 6.2 | 6.0 |
| 1926 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 5.9 |
| 1926 | 3.1 | 4.1 | 5.9 |
| 1927 | 2.1 | 3.23 | 5.25 |
A low case mortality depends upon the early recognition and
its early treatment by diphtheria antitoxin serum in sufficiently
large doses.
Cases of diphtheria which are treated by the appropriate antitoxin
serum before the fifth day of the disease, almost always
recover; after the fifth day the recovery is doubtful, and the
longer the serum treatment is deferred the less hopeful becomes
the outlook.
From all these tables, it would appear that in the last few
years there has been much improvement in the borough, in the
diminution of the prevalence of diphtheria, in the diminution of its
death rate, and in its diminished case mortality. Further, in the
matter of diminished death rate and diminished case mortality,