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
Holborn 1926
Report for the year 1926 of the Medical Officer of Health
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58
In view of the satisfactory results obtained by R. A. O'Brien in the Holborn
(Poor-law) schools, arrangements were made in 1922 to render the measure
available for the general child population of Holborn. The results obtained are
summarised in Tables I., II., and III.
The results of the Schick testing were very much the same as those found
in all other urban areas; we have, however, analysed them in connection with the
immunity to diphtheria of various members of the families dealt with. The last
column in Table IV. shows the number of exceptions (9.7 per cent.) to the
expectation that positive reactions will be manifested only in the younger
members.
TABLE IV.
| No. of children in family. | No of families. | Of which the members are— | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Schick positive. | All Schick negative. | One or more elders negative, younger positive. | One or more elders positive, younger negative. | ||
| 2 | 129 | 98 | 9 | 15 | 7 |
| 3 | 57 | 32 | 4 | 15 | 6 |
| 4 | 18 | 7 | — | 6 | 5 |
| 5 | 8 | 2 | — | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | 2 | — | — | 2 | — |
| 7 | 2 | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| — | 216 | 139 | 13 | 43 | 21 |
In one family of five children, twins (F.) of 2-3 years of age were both
positive: of twins of 7-8 years, one (M.) was positive, the other (F.) was
negative.
In one family of three children one twin (M.) was negative, the other (F.)
was positive; the latter had already been in hospital with diphtheria.
In another family, twins, one male aged 2 years when tested and one female
aged 5 years when tested were both Schick positive.