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
Kensington 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
15
THE INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
For administrative purposes the epidemic infectious diseases are divided into two classes, those
which the householder is obliged by law to notify to the Medical Officer of Health, and those which are
not compulsorily notifiable. In Kensington the following diseases are compulsorily notifiable:—
Small Pox. Typhus Fever.
Plague. Relapsing Fever.
Cholera. Puerperal Fever.
Diphtheria. Cerebro-spinal Fever.
Erysipelas. Glanders.
Scarlet Fever. Anthrax.
Typhoid or Enteric Fever. Hydrophobia.
Acute Poliomyelitis. Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
By order of the London County Council, the diseases known as ophthalmia neonatorum and
acute poliomyelitis or acute polio encephalitis were made compulsorily notifiable on March 13th,
1912, without any limitation of the period during which the Order is to continue in force.
SMALL POX.
No case of small pox occurred in Kensington during the year; 6 cases in all were notified in
the Metropolis, and of this number 3 occurred in Woolwich in the first two months of the year.
In April one case was notified in Woolwich and one case occurred in the Port of London. The
last case notified during the year occurred during the first week of September in the Borough of
St. Pancras.
| Report for four weeks ended | No. of Notifications. | ||
| Diphtheria. | Scarlet Fever. | Enteric Fever. | |
| January 27 | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| February 24 | 25 | 26 | 0 |
| March 23 | 13 | 16 | 0 |
| April 20 | 15 | 25 | 1 |
| May 18 | 15 | 22 | 1 |
| June 15 | 19 | 25 | 0 |
| July 18 | 14 | 46 | 0 |
| August 10 | 13 | 23 | 4 |
| September 7 | 11 | 13 | 2 |
| October 5 | 13 | 14 | 1 |
| November 2 | 4 | 30 | 2 |
| November 30 | 5 | 20 | 3 |
| December 28 | 9 | 13 | 1 |
| 180 | 297 | 15 | |
The increased prevalence of diphtheria in the first two months of the year had already
become well marked in the preceding month of December, and followed on a large increase in the
number of notifications throughout London in the late autumn of the year 1911. With the
exception of six cases which occurred in an orphanage, there was no marked incidence on any
particular ward to account for the 49 cases notified in January and February from various parts
of the Borough. In the months of October and November only 9 cases in all were notified, as
against the monthly average of fifteen. In 51 cases the source of infection appears to have been