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
Tower Hamlets 1966
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tower Hamlets, London Borough]
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the direction of Mr. Ambrose King, F.R.C.S., Medical Director of the Clinic, for tracing
contacts and following up defaulters.
Mr. King reports as follows:-
"As in other years the largest number of patients comes from Tower Hamlets
although there are considerable contributions from Hackney, Newham and elsewhere.
The 66 new cases of syphilis included 33 early or infectious cases.
The following table refers to the search for infecting contacts of infectious cases of syphilis and of gonorrhoea:
| Early Syphilis | Year 1966 | January - October | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 1965 | 1964 | ||
| No. of sources of infection | 55 | 51 | 107 | 59 |
| No. attending | 10 | 10 | 13 | 1 |
| Percentage attending | 18 | 20 | 12 | 2 |
| No. infected | 9 | 9 | 10 | 0 |
| Percentage infected of those attending | 90 | 90 | 77 | 0 |
| Gonorrhoea | ||||
| No. of sources of infection | 1162 | 975 | 1021 | 1355 |
| No. attending | 321 | 260 | 201 | 148 |
| Percentage attending | 28 | 27 | 20 | 11 |
| No. infected | 295 | 238 | 166 | 121 |
| Percentage infected of those attending | 92 | 91 | 83 | 85 |
It will be noted that persons alleged to be primary sources of infection in
20 per cent of cases of infectious syphilis in the period January to October were
presented for examination and of the 10 patients concerned 9 were found to be
infected. This compares with 12 per cent of the total for a similar period in 1965.
The number of cases of infectious syphilis was considerably less in 1966 than
in 1965 and I have no doubt that diligent contact tracing has been responsible for
this.
As regards gonorrhoea, sources of infection traced and brought for investigation
in January to October amounted to 27% and for the full year 28%; this compares
with 20% for January to October 1965.
This represents a great deal of devoted and diligent work. Considering the
difficulties I think these efforts must be regarded as most successful. The outcome
24.