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
Islington 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]
This page requires JavaScript
121 [1913
Order to compel them to consent. Such procedure is always distasteful, for it
is not a nice task to drag away with force a sick child from its parents, whose
only fault is usually an intense love for it. Fortunately such proceedings are
rare, and it is many years since the Medical Officer of Health has had to
resort to them. Patience, perseverence, and good temper generally succeed
where threats of legal compulsion utterly fail.
The following tabular statement has been prepared to show the growth of the percentage number of cases treated in the various public institutions connected with the Borough : —
| Year. | Cases treated in Hospital. | Percentage of cases treated. | Year. | Cases treated in Hospital. | Percentage of cases treated. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SMALL POX.
No case of this disease occurred in the Borough, although four were
notified in the County of London, namely, one in St. Marylebone, two in
Poplar, and one in Southwark.
SCARLET FEVER.
There were 1,317 cases notified, which, with two exceptions, is the highest
figure reached since 1906, when 1,386 were recorded, and in 1908, when 1,409
were notified. They occurred in 1,046 houses, and in numbers as given in
the following statement, which shows that 1,046 houses were infected, as contrasted
with 806 in 1912, and 650 in 1911. Of these 1,046 infected houses,
884 had only one case of scarlet fever in each of them, 109 had two cases, 43
had three, 6 had four, 1 had six, 1 had seven, 1 had nine, and 1 had ten.