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 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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55
tuberculosis.
TABLE 36. Tuberculosis: Notifications. 1913.
| Quarters. | Year. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | ||
| Total Certificates received | 498 | 664 | 361 | 444 | 1,967 |
| Certificates forwarded on | 173 | 280 | 80 | 123 | 656 |
| New Cases certified | 217 | 267 | 176 | 176 | 836 |
| Numbers of Certificates received from— | |||||
| Private Practitioners | 91 (13)* | 125 (23) | 82 (13) | 82 (10) | 380 (59) |
| District Medical Officers | 6 (11) | 8 (3) | 5 (1) | 6 (4) | 25 (19) |
| Medical Superintendent of Paddington Infirmary— | |||||
| On admission | 12 (23) | 17 (31) | 16 (19) | 18 (29) | 63 (102) |
| On discharge | 1 (10) | 1 (13) | 2 (56) | ||
| Paddington Tuberculosis Dispensary | 52 (19) | 38 (10) | 49 (17) | 33 (17) | 172 (63) |
| Other Institutions | 47 (32) | 59 (25) | 20 (43) | 30 (72) | 156 (172) |
| School Medical Inspectors | 7 (0) | 12 (4) | 4 (0) | 3 (0) | 26 (4) |
| Other Medical Sources | 1 (0) | 8 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (0) | 12 (0) |
* The numbers of certificates received which related to cases previously reported are shown in parentheses
The figures are to be read : " 91 certificates relating to new cases and 13 to old."
The Order of last year provides for "repeat" notifications of cases admitted to and
discharged from approved sanatoria and Poor Law institutions, special forms (C and D)
being prescribed, such forms being sent to the Medical Officer of Health at the end of each
week and not " forthwith." As a consequence the number of certificates relating to
cases previously notified, received from the Infirmary, is relatively large. (Sec Table 36.)
An analysis of the institutions, other than the local Infirmary, from which certificates were
received follows here.
Tuberculosis : Cases Certified or Re-certified.
| 8 "General" Hospitals. | 5 Asylums Board Hospitals. |
| 4 "Chest" | 5 Poor Law Institutions. |
| 3 "Tuberculosis" ,, | 3 Lunatic Asylums. |
| 2 " Children's " „ | 12 Sanatoria. |
| 2 Other "Special" „ | 8 "Homes." |
Of the new cases reported during the year one form of the disease was certified in 784
instances, two forms in 50, and three in 2. In the appended analyses of the parts of the body
affected, a scheme of division has been adopted which has been in use for many years
past in distributing deaths from Cancer. It should, however, be pointed out that whereas
in the case of Cancer the only evidence of systemic infection is to be found in the
appearance (not always observed) of secondary new growths in parts of the body other
than the site of the primary tumour, in the case of tuberculosis systemic infection may be
observed usually from the first onset of the disease. As a consequence an anatomical distribution,
such as has been adopted here, is not strictly logical, and it has been used solely
as a convenient method of indicating those parts of the body which give signs visible to the
naked eye of the disease.