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 1960
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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TABLE 1
| Notifiable disease | Number of cases notified | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 1959 | 1958 | 1957 | 1956 | 1955 | 1954 | 1953 | |
| Scarlet fever | 29 | 54 | 27 | 33 | 45 | 50 | 52 | 78 |
| Diphtheria (including membranous croup) | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | _ | 2 |
| Enteric fever | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| Puerperal pyrexia | 138 | 112 | 116 | 123 | 117 | 125 | 96 | 65 |
| Acute primary pneumonia and acute influenzal pneumonia | 16 | 60 | 70 | 75 | 65 | 105 | 54 | 93 |
| Dysentery | 71 | 110 | 117 | 77 | 88 | 99 | 68 | 131 |
| Erysipelas | 9 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 11 |
| Meningococcal infection | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Malaria | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Acute poliomyelitis: Paralytic | 3 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 9 |
| Non-paralytic | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 20 | - | 5 |
| Acute encephalitis | - | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | |
| Tuberculosis (all forms) | 164 | 194 | 179 | 208 | 258 | 218 | 243 | 256 |
| Measles | 457 | 737 | 654 | 982 | 358 | 1425 | 94 | 740 |
| Ophthalmia neonatorum | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| Enteritis† | 9 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 20 | 27 |
| Food poisoning | 40 | 65 | 47 | 52 | 63 | 53 | 58 | 79 |
| Scabies | 28 | 42 | 52 | 52 | 40 | 54 | 42 | 42 |
| Whooping cough | 154 | 83 | 92 | 130 | 236 | 116 | 136 | 485 |
| Typhus fever | - | - | - | - | - | — | 1 | - |
| TOTALS | 1138 | 1489 | 1400 | 1781 | 1331 | 2322 | 896 | 2046 |
+Notifiable only in children under the age of 5.
NOTE: Cases of mistaken diagnosis are excluded from above table.
TABLE 2
| Notifiable disease | Number of Cases Notified in 1960 Age Groups in Years | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 | 1 to 2 | 3 to 4 | 5 to 9 | 10 to 14 | 15 to 24 | 25 & over | |
| Scarlet fever | - | - | 13 | 6 | 6 | 4 | - |
| Diphtheria (including membranous croup) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Enteric fever | - | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 5 |
| Puerperal pyrexia | - | - | - | - | - | 69 | 69 |
| Acute primary pneumonia and acute influenzal pneumonia | 1 | - | 2 | - | _ | 1 | 12 |
| Dysentery | 2 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 11 | 23 |
| Erysipelas | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 8 |
| Meningococcal infection | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Malaria | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Acute poliomyelitis: Paralytic | - | 3 | _ | _ | _ | _ | — |
| Non-paralytic | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Acute encephalitis | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Tuberculosis (all forms) | 2 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 113 |
| Measles | 50 | 120 | 127 | 167 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Ophthalmia neonatorum | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Enteritis | 3 | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Food poisoning | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 19 |
| Scabies | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | 12 | 12 |
| Whooping cough | 17 | 44 | 44 | 43 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| TOTALS | 70 | 195 | 198 | 234 | 21 | 152 | 268 |