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 1940
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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INFECTIOUS DISEASE. The following table shows the number of cases of infectious disease notified, the number of cases in North and South Kensington respectively, the number admitted to hospitals and the number of deaths in 1940:-
| Notifiable disease | Number of cases | Cases admitted to hospital. | Total deaths. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Kensington. | South Kensington. | Total | |||
| Smallpox | - | - | - | - | - |
| Scarlet fever | 58 | 24 | 82 | 75 | 1 |
| Diphtheria (including membraneous croup | 25 | 29 | 54 | 54 | 4 |
| Enteric fever | 5 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 1 |
| Puerperal fever | 5 | 1 | 6 | 6 | - |
| Puerperal pyrexia | 14 | 4 | 18 | 18 | - |
| Acute primary pneumonia & acute influenzal pneumonia | 40 | 19 | 59 | 20 | 120 |
| Dysentery | 9 | 6 | 15 | 14 | - |
| Erysipelas | 29 | 18 | 47 | 34 | - |
| Encephalitis lethargica | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Cerebro-spinal meningitis | 27 | 18 | 45 | 45 | 7 |
| Continued fever | - | - | - | - | - |
| Poliomyelitis and polioencephalitis | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Pulmonary tuberculosis | 106 | 64 | 170 | 127 | 92 |
| Other forms of tuberculosis | 20 | 10 | 30 | 27 | 9 |
| Measles | 43 | 191 | 242 | 135 | 3 |
| Ophthalmia neonatorum | 8 | 1 | 9 | 6 | - |
| Whooping cough | 12 | 4 | 16 | 8 | - |
| Malaria | - | - | - | - | - |
| +Enteritis(diarrhoea) | 9 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 17 |
| Food poisoning | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | - |
| 6 | - | 6 | 3 | - | |
| Totals | 419 | 411 | 830 | 596 | 260 |
+ Notifiable only in children under the age of 5 years.
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Cases of mistaken diagnosis are excluded from the above table.