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 1950
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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18
Bacteriological Examinations.
Diphtheria—-Negative, 142; positive, Nil.
Tuberculosis—Negative, 184; positive, 73.
Tuberculosis.
| Age Periods. | New Cases. | Deaths. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary. | Non-Pulmonary. | Pulmonary. | Non-Pulmonary. | |||||
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| Under 1 year | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 to 5 years | 5 | 7 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 to 15 years | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 15 to 25 years | 32 | 24 | 1 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 25 to 45 years | 70 | 40 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | — | — |
| 45 to 65 years | 43 | 5 | — | 3 | 11 | 4 | — | 2 |
| 65 to 75 years | 7 | — | — | — | 9 | — | — | — |
| 75 and over | 1 | 1 | — | — | 2 | — | — | — |
| 163 | 79 | 8 | 9 | 30 | 7 | — | 2 | |
New Cases.
Pulmonary—242 new cases, including 74 transfers and 13 non-notified
deaths.
Non-Pulmonary—17 new cases, including 3 transfers and 1 nonnotified
death.
(1949 - Pulmonary, 219 new cases; Non-Pulmonary, 16 new cases.)
Deaths from Tuberculosis.
Pulmonary—37 (30 males, 7 females).
Non-Pulmonary—2 (2 females).
Smallpox Investigations.
On five separate occasions during the year, general practitioners asked
the Medical Officer of Health for advice on cases which they suspected
might be smallpox. Such requests are given priority and the Medical
Officer of Health, or his Assistant, immediately visited the suspect.
In three instances, the services of a Regional Smallpox Consultant was
called for a confirmatory opinion; in two of these cases the patients
were removed, as a precautionary measure, to an Isolation Hospital for
observation and investigation. Fortunately, in every case, smallpox
was finally excluded.
On five occasions information was received that passengers, who were
coming to Westminster, had been in contact with a case or suspected
case of smallpox, whilst travelling by sea or by air to this country. All
these contacts, in one instance numbering 60, were traced by officers of
the Department, who kept in daily touch with them until the period of
danger was passed.