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 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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12 smallpox.
The same table also gives the standard and corrected rates for the Wards of the Borough.
The standard rates for two Wards, viz., Harrow Road (19.02) and Westbourne (18.96) exceed
the Borough rate (17.10), while of the corrected rates recorded last year those of Queen's Park
(14.92) and Church Wards (16.21) are higher than that of the Borough (13.15). In every case
the corrected rate for last year is below the standard rate and also the mean corrected rate,
the most satisfactory reduction in the latter case being that noted in Church Ward (2.21).
SMALLPOX.
There has been no case of this disease in the Borough for more than two years. In
the whole Metropolis only four cases were reported in 1908, as compared with 9 in 1907, and
31 in 1906. In the 255 (extra-metropolitan) cities and towns (with a total population of
nearly 15 millions at the last Census) sending weekly returns to the Local Government
Board, there were 21 cases last year, a considerable reduction on the number (119) reported
in 1907. The numbers of cases reported in each quarter during the last six years are shown
below. The figures, undoubtedly, overstate the prevalence of the disease as a fairly large
proportion of cases were, in all probability, errors of diagnosis.
| Metropolis. | Extra-Metropolitan Districts. A | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarters—1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | Year. | r l. | 2. | 3. | 4. | Year. | |
| — | ||||||||||
| — | ||||||||||
Immunity from smallpox conduces to neglect of vaccination. That statement is
confirmed from the figures given below, which show that since 1902, when the disease was
last prevalent to any extent in Paddington, the proportion of children born each year and left
unprotected by vaccination has increased steadily. It will be noticed that in 1907 the
number of certificates of " conscientious objection " was more than double that for 1906. In
1907 there was not a rumour of the disease in the Borough; in 1906 there was. The
provisional figures for the first half of 1908 promise to be even worse than those for 1907.
The number of certificates granted in the first six months of last year exceeded the number
for the whole year of 1907. The increased facility in obtaining certificates is doubtless
responsible for the larger number of objectors.
| Births. | Successfully Vaccinated. | Insusceptible of Vaccination. | Died Unvaccinated. | Per cent. of Births. Cols. 2, 3, & 4. | Vaccination Postponed. | Certificates under the . Act. | Remainder. | Per cent, of Births. Cols. 6, 7, & 8. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|