Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough.
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104
An attempt has been made in the succeeding paragraphs to give
all the facts relating to the cases which occurred in the Borough
during the current year and at the same time to present them in such
a way that certain broad inferences can be made.
In common with the rest of the country, there was a sharp rise
in the incidence of this disease during the year and out of a total of
32 notifications, 23 were eventually registered as confirmed cases,
of which 15 were of the paralytic type and 8 non-paralytic. This is
the highest number recorded in the Borough since 1947, the previous
epidemic year, when there were 16. Figures for the years 1948 and
1949 were 5 and 4 respectively.
The previous outbreak in 1947 commenced in July and continued
until December of the same year and there were 2 deaths. This
year differed in that, with the exception of an isolated case in
February, the outbreak commenced two months earlier in May and
continued until November with no fatalities.
The only comparison that it is possible to make with the
National figures is in respect of the numbers of uncorrected
notifications received during the various months of the year.
The following table indicates approximately 70 per cent of Greenwich uncorrected notifications were recived in the months of June and july, whereas the peak period for england and wales came in the months of aaugust and september at a time when the Borough epidemic had almost subsided.
Month | No. of Uncorrected Notifications Received | |
---|---|---|
Greenwich | England & Wales | |
January | — | 215 |
February | 1 | 152 |
March | — | 125 |
April | — | 110 |
May | 2 | 122 |
June | 5 | 351 |
July | 17 | 1,149 |
August | I | 1,898 |
September | 3 | 2,232 |
October | 2 | 1,192 |
November | 1 | 708 |
December | — | 445 |
Totals | 32 | 8,699 |
A conclusion to be drawn from a study of the above table is
that, broadly speaking, the most infectious period in Greenwich was