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
Kensington 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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18
Epidemic Cerebro-spinal Meningitis.—Three patients were notified as suffering
from cerebro-spinal meningitis, which in one case terminated fatally. The patient who
died was a woman aged 45, living in a house where no animals were kept, and where the rooms
. were not infested with vermin. The diagnosis was confirmed by bacteriological examination.
In the other two cases the diagnosis was probably erroneous.
NON NOTIFIABLE EPIDEMIC DISEASES.
The immense cost which the community is called upon to bear in order that persons suffering
from Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, and certain other notifiable diseases may be removed from their
homes and isolated in Hospital diverts in some measure the attention of the public from the very
heavy mortality which results from epidemics of the diseases which are not notifiable. The part
played by these two artificial classes of disease has accordingly been represented in the following
lable of deaths occurring in the year 1913.
Epidemic Diseases.
| Notifiable. | Deaths, 1913. | Non-Notifiable. | Deaths, 1913 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diphtheria | 7 | Measles | 82 |
| Erysipelas | 9 | Who ping Cough | 29 |
| Scarlet Fever | 3 | Influenza | 52 |
| Enteric Fever | 6 | Diarrhœa | 108 |
| 25 | 271 |
Comment on such figures is unnecessary, except to say that they illustrate the urgency of
the problem presented by such diseases as diarrhoea and measles without necessarily indicating
notification as the solution. The following Table shows the seasonal incidence of deaths from
the non-notifiable epidemic diseases and the age periods in which death occurred :—
Non-notifiable Epidemic Diseases in1913.
| Report for four weeks ended | Number of Deaths. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measles. | Whooping Cough. | Influenza | Diarrhœa * & Enteritis. | |
| January 25 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
| February 22 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 5 |
| March 22 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 3 |
| April 19 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 4 |
| May 17 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| June 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| July 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| August 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| September 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| October 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26 |
| November 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| November 29 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| January 3, 1914 (five weeks) | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 |
| Total | 82 | 29 | 52 | 108 |
| Age at Death. | Measles. | Whooping Cough. | Influenza. | Diarrhœa & Enteritis. |
| Under 1 year | 17 | 11 | 1 | 62 |
| Under 5 years | 79 | 28 | 2 | 81 |
| 5 to 15 years | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 to 65 years | 0 | 0 | 21 | 16 |
| 65 years and upwards | 0 | 0 | 29 | 10 |
| Total | 82 | 29 | 52 | 108 |
* Voluntarily notifiable, July to November, 1913.
Fatal diarrhoea is seen to be a disease of infancy, increasing in prevalence in the late summer
and eariy autumn Deaths from measles and whooping cough occur in early childhood; influenza
is chiefly fatal in old age and late middle life, the number of deaths showing a marked remission
in the summer months.