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
Poplar 1905
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Poplar, Metropolitan Borough]
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98
Forty-nine specimens of blood from doubtful cases of Typhoid
Fever were forwarded to the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.
In 25 instances (51.02 per cent.) the Typhoid (Widal) reaction was
obtained.*
Three Poplar parishioners died from Typhoid Fever, 3 fatal
cases occurred among the Bromley patients, and 5 among the Bow,
making a total of 11 deaths in 59 cases.
As is usual it will be seen that the greater number of Typhoid Fever cases occurred during the latter half of the year.
| 1st Quarter. | 2nd Quarter. | 3rd Quarter. | 4th Quarter. | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poplar | 4 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 18 |
| Bromley | 5 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 32 |
| Bow | 1 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 20 |
| 10 | 10 | 31 | 19 | 70 |
DIPHTHERIA (INCLUDING MEMBRANOUS CROUP).
Seventy cases of Diphtheria and 3 cases of Membranous Croup
were notified in Poplar, 138 cases of Diphtheria and 2 cases of
Membranous Croup were notified in Bromley, and 278 cases of
Diphtheria and no cases of Membranous Croup were notified in
Bow, making a total of 486 cases of Diphtheria and 5 cases of
Membranous Croup for the whole Borough.
* The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine upon being communicated
with respecting "feeble widal reactions," Dr. Allan Macfayden, the Acting
Director, answered: "It is our rule to regard cases which give a feeble reaction
as doubtful and to ask the practitioner for a fresh sample, in order that the
blood examination may be repeated at a later stage of the illness with a more
decisive result. There are also cases not clinically Typhoid, as well as cases
in which there has been a previous attack of this disease, where widal reactions
of the above character may be obtained. This, however, does not lessen the
real substantial value of the widal reaction, if properly carried out on the lines
indicated."