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
City of Westminster 1914
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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44
Disease.
Persons.
Examinations.
Results.
Positive.
Negative.
Doubtful.
Diphtheria 256 262 43 218 1
Typhoid Fever 48 52 9 38 5
Tuberculosis 185 185 31 151 —
Ophthalmia Neonatorum — — — — —
One patient was examined both for Tubercle and Typhoid Fever.
In addition to those mentioned above, many medical men and hospitals
obtain reports on their cases from private or hospital laboratories.
Disinfection.
Below is shown the number of rooms and articles disinfected by the
Staff of the Department. The premises included 48 rooms in 9 schools,
37 shops and 9 offices; 8 vehicles were also disinfected. In 7 cases
of infectious disease treated at home the laundry linen (288 articles)
was collected weekly and disinfected.
Disinfection was carried out after all cases of the notifiable diseases,
except as regards erysipelas (in which disinfection was performed in
39 instances, when the circumstances of the case required it), and also
29 houses after measles, 7 chicken-pox, 18 cancer, 3 influenza,
2 whooping-cough, 298 phthisis, 2 anthrax, 3 tetanus, and 5 mumps.
In 58 instances the premises, &c., were disinfected privately (46 of these
being cases of phthisis).
The following table gives a comparative statement of the above work during the past seven years:—
| 1908. | 1909. | 1910. | 1911. | 1912. | 1913. | 1914. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premises | 1,067 | 1,287 | 841 | 979 | 1,020 | 1,410 | 1,650 |
| Rooms | 1,568 | 1,865 | 1,284 | 1,449 | 1,346 | 1,796 | 2,461 |
| Articles disinfected | 31,915 | 49,843 | 26,850 | 26,264 | 34,478 | 53,567 | 57,591 |
| Articles washed | — | — | 514 | 782 | 4,999 | 8,210 | 4,807 |
| Articles destroyed | 233 | 186 | 1,651 | 496 | 699 | 1,567 | 2,047 |
| Books disinfected | 557 | 281 | 595 | 266 | 315 | 1,810 | 414 |
| Number of persons admitted to shelters | 5 | 6 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
Cleansing of Persons.—Adults.—The Guardians deal with the
frequenters of their casual wards, and at certain of the common lodging
houses facilities are provided for the inmates; 65 adults (50 men, 15
women) had baths at the station, and 807 articles of clothing were
cleansed of vermin. Three persons suffering from scabies had baths and
clothing disinfected.