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
Battersea 1947
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Battersea Borough]
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27
Notifications of Scarlet Fever, Meningococcal Meningitis, Measles
and Scabies showed a very definite decrease. In addition, Diphtheria
further declined so that the case rate for this disease has dropped much
lower than ever before to 0-16 per 1,000 population, which again
Indicates the value of the work carried out at the Diphtheria Immunisation
Clinic.
An analysis of the cases notified will be found on page 28.
Diphtheria Immunisation.
Diphtheria immunisation was continued at Southlands and, in
edition, immunisation was also carried out at Nine Elms Welfare
Centre, where 53 first and 43 second injections were given.
The increase in the proportion of children known to have been immunised has been slow and shows that much work still remains to be done before mass-immunity of the population is assured. The estimated figures are as follows :—
| Age Group. | Immunised. | Population. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0— 5 | 3,245 | 10,130 | |
| 5—15 | 7,898 | 14,330 | |
| In the following table the year's work of the Diphtheria Immunisation Clinic is set out in summarised form | |||
| Sessions held | 103 | ||
| Patients attending (new, 1,688) | 2,103 | ||
| Attendances | 5,023 | ||
| „ (average per Session) | 48.7 | ||
| Patients who completed course of immunisation:— | |||
| (a) At Clinic | 1,197 | ||
| (b) Elsewhere | 365 | 1,562 | |
| Post-Schick Tests | 1,258 | ||
| Readings— | |||
| Negative | 1,215* | ||
| Positive | 31 | ||
| No Reading (1947) | 20 | 1.266 | |
* Includes 8 from 1946 tests.
Arrangements are in force for private practitioners to immunise
children who were unable to attend the clinic, and 7 children were
immunised in this way during the year, and 1 child received a supplementary
inoculation.
The Schick test is offered to all children who have been immunised
whether at the Council's clinic or elsewhere. It was found that 97.5
pen cent, of the children tested after inoculation were Schick negative.
A very stringent standard was maintained in reading the test and most
of those found to be Schick positive showed by the mildness of the
reaction that they had attained a considerable degree of protection
against diphtheria.