London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
This page requires JavaScript
17
scarlet fever.
SCARLET FEVER.
There were 226 cases of this disease reported during the year, the smallest total since the'
formation of the Borough in 1900, and 32 less than the total for 1910, the previous lowest on
record. The numbers of cases reported in each cf the six past years and the morbidity rates
(per 1,000 persons) due therefrom are given below:—
1906. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911.
Cases 715 579 681 629 258 226
Morbidity 4.99 4.04 4.76 4.40 1.80 1.58
The average annual number of cases during 1906-10 was 572, and the morbidity rate 4.00.
The morbidity rates from this disease in the circumjacent districts are given in Table 6. The
following rates (per 1,000 persons) for the past year are taken from the Report of the Local
Government Board already referred to:—
England 2.84
England, less London 2.71
Aggregate of County Boroughs, less London 3.33
Table 7 shows how the numbers of cases reported during the year in the individual Wards of
the Borough compare with the totals for the preceding five years. In Table 12 the numbers
recorded in the Wards in each quarter and during the year are compared with the averages for
the preceding five years. Throughout the last table the numbers for 1911 are much lower than
those for 1906-10, in some instances strikingly so.
The 226 reported cases included 32 erroneously diagnosed as scarlet fever.* The proportion
of "errors" was no less than 14.1 per cent., as compared with an average of 5'6 per cent, during
the preceding five years. A higher proportion of " errors " is more likely to occur when a disease
is at a low ebb than when it is exceptionally prevalent as it has been during part of the period
1906-10. The proportion of "errors" was highest last year in Queen's Park and Harrow Road
Wards (20 per cent, in each case), while none were recorded in Lancaster Gate, East and West,
and Hyde Park Wards.
Of the 194 cases correctly diagnosed, 28 were apparently due to infection acquired outside
the Borough, 9 to the return home of patients from hospital, and 7 occurred in patients already
in hospital, being attacks of scarlet fever supervening on diphtheria.
Multiple cases were reported from 23 houses, as compared with 36 in 1910. A comparison of the frequency of multiple infections, not corrected for " errors," during the past five years is given below:—
| 1911. | 1910. | 1909. | 1908. | 1907. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houses with 2 cases | 16 | 23 | 62 | 57 | 63 |
| „ 3 „ | 3 | 9 | 26 | 30 | 21 |
| „ 4 „ | 2 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 7 |
| „ 5 „ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| „ 6 „ | — | — | — | 1 | 2 |
| „ 7 „ | 1 | — | — | 2 | 2 |
The distribution of multiple cases, after correction for " errors," during the past three years is given below, the numbers of families with multiple cases being given as well as those of houses. Last year in no house was a second family infected.
| 1911. | 1910. | 1909. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nos. of houses with 2 cases | 14 | 21 | 59 |
| „ 3 ,, | 2 | 7 | 22 |
| „ 4 ,, | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| ,, 5 ,, | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Nos. of families with 2 cases | 14 | 22 | 51 |
| „ 3 „ | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| „ 4 ,, | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| „ 5 „ | 1 | 1 | — |
*The morbidity rate, after exclusion of "errors," was 1.36 per 1,000 last year, the corresponding average for
1906-10 being 3 77.