London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

Camberwell 1925

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camberwell.

This page requires JavaScript

60
There still remains, however, the less easily controlled factor,
viz., the carrier of the disease, particularly where the individual
who, unknowingly, has suffered from a mild attack of the disease
is engaged in the preparation or handling of food.
The number of notifications received during 1925 was 15.
Of these, 13 were removed to hospitals. There were no deaths.
There were no instances of more than one case occurring in
the same house.

The following table shows the number of notifications received, the number removed to hospitals and the total deaths from this cause since 1921:—

Year.Number of Notifications.Removed to hospital.Number of deaths.
192119155
19221184
19231093
19241082
19251513Nil

Scarlet Fever. General Prevalence, 1921-25.
In the autumn of 1920 a large increase in the number
of scarlet fever cases occurred in Camberwell. This prevalence
was not confined to any one part of the Borough.
During 1921 an even greater number of cases was brought
to this Department's notice, and this number has only been
exceeded once since scarlet fever became compulsorily notifiable
in Camberwell.
Various reasons were attributed as to the causes of this
epidemic, the exceptionally dry summers of 1920 and 1921, and the
increased prevalence of fleas on school children. The probable
explanation was the presence of a large number of susceptible
children who had accumulated since the last outbreak in 1913.
To what extent undiagnosed eases played a part in transmitting
this disease is not known, but there is reason to believe
that in this outbreak the total amount of infection existing was
not brought into control.
1,083 cases were notified in 1922, a fall of 876 cases as compared
with the previous year. There were, however, more deaths
in that year than in 1921, the numbers being 22 as against 19.
In 1923 a marked decline in the number of cases occurred,
less than half the number being notified than in the previous
year.
This decline was not continued, however, during 1924, there
being an increase of 78 notifications on the recorded figure of 520
for 1923.