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 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tower Hamlets, London Borough]
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The annual return received from the Venerea] Disease Clinic at the London Hospital shows the new cases attending the clinic during the year to be as follows:-
| Area of Residence | Syphilis | Gonorrhoea | Other Conditions | Total | (1970) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tower Hamlets | 69 | 476 | 1,952 | 2,497 | (2,524) |
| Other London Borough | 116 | 1,276 | 5,464 | 6,856 | (6,496) |
| Other Areas | 12 | 139 | 993 | 1, 144 | ( 1, 186) |
| 1,891 | 8,409 | 10,497 | ( 10 , 206 ) |
Returns received from 9 other hospitals in London of new patients attending
their clinics during the year showed that 303 were residents of Tower Hamlets,
comprising 5 syphilis, 34 gonorrhoea and 264 other venereal conditions.
Two welfare officers appointed by the Council work from the Whitechapel Clinic
under the direction of Dr. E.M.C. Dunlop, M. D. , F. R. C. P. , Senior Physician to the
Department, for tracing contacts and following up defaulters.
Dr. Dunlop reports as follows:-
"We dealt with 197 new cases of syphilis (1970 215 new cases); with
1,891 cases of gonorrhoea (1970 - 1,882) and with 8,409 Other Genital
Infections and Other Conditions (1970 --8,109). In all the clinic dealt with a
total of 10,497 new cases compared with 10,206 in 1970.
However, the total for Tower Hamlets was slightly decreased at 2,497
compared with 2,524 in 1970. There were 69 cases of syphilis compared with 52 in
1970 and 476 cases of gonorrhoea compared with 541 in the previous year.
Although the decrease in the number of cases of gonorrhoea in this area
is slight, it is particularly gratifying because it has occurred at a time
that the national figures are increasing. The activities of the contact
tracers in this department have kept the infectious reservoir of gonorrhoea
in this area as small as possible by bringing infected women to treatment.
In 1971, 1,258 male patients suffering from gonorrhoea were seen; 455
women who were alleged sources of infection were examined and, of this number,
430 (94.5%) were found to be infected. One hundred and eighty-five other
contacts were also examined and 131 (70.8%) were found to be infected with
gonorrhoea, in 1971 twenty two male patients were seen suffering from syphilis
who had darkfie1d-positive infectious genital lesions. This compares with 17
such patients in the previous year. In 1971 six contacts who were said to be
the source of the syphilitic infection in the cases of patients attending this
department were examined and all were found to be infected. This compares with
5 in the previous year of which number 3 were found to be infected. Another
5 persons who were said to be contacts of patients suffering from syphilis
attended and in fact none of these contacts was found to be infected.
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