London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

Wandsworth 1895

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]

This page requires JavaScript

19
District.
would be prevented from going to school. In all probability there
would be further cases occurring in the same house, but it might
be possible to confine it to that particnlar house.
Then the moral effect of making measles compulsorily notifiable
must not be overlooked. The mortality is very great from
this disease, much greater than it should be. The deaths from it
during the last seven years in this District have been 56, 33, 88,
78, 82, 33, and 82, mostly from lung complications, much of
which could have been prevented by proper care. When people
come to recognize, as they would do in course of time, that information
had to be given in every case of measles, and that a visit of
the inspeotor would quickly follow, they would take more care, and
no longer regard the disease as a purely trivial one.
We do not here refer to the cost of adding measles to the list,
which would be very considerable, not only from the cost of the
certificates, but also from the great increase of the office and inspectorial
work. It seems dear, however, that if measles were to
bo made notifiable, it should be so done for the whole of London,
and that of course could only be brought about by the London
County Council, who have equal power in that matter with the
Sanitary Authorities, subject to the approval of the Local Government
Board.
September 11 th, 1895.
The Board, however, decided to take no action in
the matter.
Whooping
Cough.
There were 24 deaths from this cause; also
a smaller number than any in the past ten years.
Whooping cough therefore was not especially prevalent
in 1895.
Influenza.
The deaths from this disease have been
very numerous and were no less than 131. This is more
than in any year since we have had influenza. Most of
the deaths occurred in March and April. Influenza became
epidemic in a very virulent form almost coincidently
2