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
Paddington 1904
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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25
fever.
Direct infection from person to person has been referred to in preceding reports. Some
further notes of such cases will be given at the end of this part of the report. From one
family 2 cases were reported on the same day, and from another, 3.
Of the 48 cases reported, 5 were subsequently certified to have been erroneously diagnosed.
All the patients had been removed to hospital. In 1903, 10 out of 46 cases (enteric and
continued fevers) were erroneously diagnosed. In 2 cases death occurred on the day of, or
before, notification. Infection contracted outside the Borough (imported cases) was traced
in 13 instances (2 apparently by personal infection) while 4 other patients regularly had meals
outside the Borough, and might therefore be fairly described as imported cases. Inquiries
elicited information of the consumption within the incubation period of the disease of
Watercress 3 cases.
Watercress and Winkles 1 case.
Oysters 2 cases.
Of the 48 cases reported, 38, including 5 erroneously diagnosed, were removed either to
the Workhouse Infirmary or to hospitals for isolation and treatment. The percentage of
notified cases thus dealt with was 79.1, nearly 8 per cent. more than in 1903. The proportions
removed from the different wards varied from 33 to 100 per cent. (See Table 19.)
TABLE 19. Enteric Fever. 1901.
| District. | Cases Notified* | To Hospital. | Per cent. of cases Notified to Hospital | Deaths. | Fatalities per cent, cases treated At Home. In Hospital. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At Home. | in Hospital | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 100 | — | — | — | — | ||
| Harrow Roail | 3(2) | 3(2) | 100 | — | — (1) | — | — | |
| Maida Vale | 8 | 5 | 62 | 1 | — | — | ||
| Westbourne | 14 (2) | 12 (2) | 85 | — | — | 30.0 | ||
| Church | 11 | 10 | 99 | — | — | 30.0 | ||
| Lancaster Gate West | 1 | 33 | — | — | — | — | ||
| „ „ East | 3 | 100 | — | 1 | — | |||
| Hyde Park | 5 (1) | 3 (1) | 60 | — | — | — | — | |
| Borough | 1904† | 48 (5) | 38 (5) | 79.1 | 1 | 8(1) | 10.0 | 24.2 |
| 1903 | 46 (10) | 33 (6) | 71.7 | 5 | 2(1) | 55.5 | 7.4 | |
| 1902 | 84 (10) | 54 (0) | 65.0 | 5 | 8 | 19.2 | 6.2 | |
| 1901 | 92 (?) | 58 (?) | 63.0 | 5 | 10 | 14.7 | 17.6 | |
* See foot-note to Table 17.
† One death (Church Ward) not notified (diagnosis arrived at after death only) has been excluded from
this table.
Of the nine deaths occurring among notified cases, 8 took place in hospital—one death,
however, not being due to enteric fever. Correcting the figures for errors of diagnosis, the
fatality was 24.2, the highest for the four years. (Table 19.) The fatality calculated on the
total notifications was 20.8 per cent., 3.8 above the rate for 1903, and 5 per cent. above
the fatality for the Metropolis (15.0).