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 1949
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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The following table shows the number of cases added to and the number removed from, the notification register during the year
| Description | Respiratory | Non-Respiratory | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | F. | M. | F. | ||
| On register of notifications on 1st January 1949. | 533 | 476 | 58 | 78 | 1145 |
| Notified for the first time during the year | 127 | 107 | 15 | 17 | 266 |
| Brought to notice other than by notification. | 76 | 53 | 3 | 4 | 136 |
| Removed from register on account of having- | |||||
| (a) recovered from disease | 32 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 58 |
| (b) removed from district, lost sight of, etc. | 133 | 93 | 9 | 28 | 263 |
| (c) died. | 51 | 28 | 79 | ||
| Remaining on register on 31st December,1949. | 520 | 495 | 63 | 69 | 1147 |
Whooping cough.
Three hundred and four cases were notified during the
year, forty-nine of which were treated in hospital.
One death occurred from this disease.
Notifications.
The following tables show (1) the number of cases of
infectious disease notified during the year 1949, with comparative
figures for the previous seven yearsj (2) the number
of-notifications divided into age groupsj and (3) the number
of cases notified in each ward of the borough.
TABLE 1
| Notifiable disease | Number of cases notified | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | 1948 | 1947 | 1946 | 1945 | 1944 | 1943 | 1942 | |
| Scarlet fever | 114 | 94 | 98 | 195 | 136 | 74 | 216 | 108 |
| Diphtheria (including Membranous Croup) | 2 | 12 | 23 | 37 | 19 | 29 | 54 | 78 |
| Enteric fever | 7 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Puerperal fever ø | — | — | 5 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 10 | 7 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | 33 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 23 | 25 | 7 |
| Acute primary pneumonia and acute influenzal pneumonia | 121 | 142 | 103 | 111 | 81 | 91 | 133 | 91 |
| Dysentery | 33 | 145 | 21 | 49 | 142 | 43 | 73 | 68 |
| Erysipelas | 15 | 24 | 34 | 37 | 33 | 16 | 37 | 30 |
| Cerebro-spinal meningitis | 8 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 17 |
| Malaria | — | 2 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Poliomyelitis and polioencephalitis | 47 | 9 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Encephalitis lethargica | 1 | — | 2 | — | 11 | — | — | — |
| Tuberculosis (all forms) | 266 | 258 | 259 | 210 | 188 | 211 | 202 | 203 |
| Measles | 740 | 868 | 852 | 264 | 868 | 102 | 624 | 365 |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 4 |
| Enteritis + | 88 | 64 | 102 | 69 | 100 | 71 | 69 | 96 |
| Pood poisoning | 33 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| Scabies / | 106 | 141 | 239 | 463 | 460 | 363 | 252 | — |
| Whooping cough | 304 | 264 | 274 | 209 | 62 | 189 | 102 | 146 |
ø Only Puerperal Pyrexia notifiable in London now.
Section 50, London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1948.
+ Notifiable only in children under the age of 5 years.
/ Notifiable as from 1st August, 1943.
NOTE; Cases of mistaken diagnosis are excluded from the
above table.