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
Stoke Newington 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stoke Newington, The Metropolitan Borough]
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124
Two of the notified cases were of sufferers who became
infected away from London, and the probability of shell.fish
infection arose in these cases.
DIPHTHERIA.
The 83 cases of Diphtheria occurred in 79 houses, 8 of which
were more or less insanitary.
The sanitary defects were grave in 1 instance, and slight in 7.
| Year. | Death-Rate for Stoke Newington. | Rate for London generally. | Rate for England and Wales. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 0.27 | 0.30 | 0.27 |
| 1902 | 0.09 | 0.25 | 0.23 |
| 1908 | 013 | 016 | 0.18 |
| 1904 | 019 | 0.16 | 0.17 |
| 1905 | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.16 |
| 1906 | 0.08 | 0.14 | 0.17 |
| 1907 | 0.11 | 0.16 | 0.16 |
| 1908 | 0.02 | 0.15 | 0.16 |
| 1909 | 0.02 | 0.13 | 0.14 |
| 1910 | 0.04 | 0.09 | 0.12 |
| 1911 | 0.06 | 0.13 | 0.13 |
| 1912 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.11 |
| 1913 | 0.12 | 0.09 | 0.12 |
This Table shows the considerable and progressive decline in
the death-rate from Diphtheria which has occurred for many years.
This decline is to be mainly attributed to the use of antitoxin, as
the virulence of Diphtheria has not become reduced to anything
approaching the same degree as in the case of Scarlet Fever.
School attendance is alleged by the parents to be the cause of
attack during the year.
Two cases appear to have caught the infection from previous
cases in the same household. In 2 cases it was very clear that
a preceding Tonsilitis predisposed to an attack of Diphtheria.
One case was imported into the Borough. It is of further
interest to record the great number of instances in which
we were informed by the parent that the children had histories
of "weak throats," with frequently recurring attacks of
Tonsilitis; the very mild nature of several of the attacks, and the
fact that 1 case was only diagnosed and notified as suffering from