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
Wandsworth 1970
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]
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28
Smallpox
No cases occurred during the year. However, thorough investigation
was required in the case of a man who had recently arrived
in this country from India and was suspected to have smallpox.
All contacts were traced and vaccinated, but after full laboratory
tests had been made, the provisional diagnosis was not confirmed.
Tuberculosis
The number of new cases reported during the year was 123, the
sources of information being as follows:—
Primary notifications 98
Un-notified at death 3
Transfers from other areas 22
The number of deaths certified as due to various forms of tuberculosis
was seven.
Particulars of the primary notifications and deaths during the year, classified by sex and age, are given in the following table : —
| Age Groups | Primary Notifications | Deaths | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | |||||
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| Under 1 year | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1- 4 5-9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| 10-14 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15-24 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 25-44 | 21 | 7 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 45-64 | 14 | 9 | 2 | — | 2 | — | — | — |
| 65 and over | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — |
| Totals | 55 | 27 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | — |
Typhoid and paratyphoid fevers (Enteric fever)
Three unrelated cases of paratyphoid fever were notified during
the year involving two girls aged 5 months and 13 years respectively
and an adult male. Bacteriological examination of family contacts
revealed that the baby girl's grandparents were carriers of
the organisms. No source of infection could be found in the case
of the other girl. The third notification concerned a man who had
been on a camping holiday in Ireland.
Similar bacteriological investigations were undertaken in relation
to another patient (whose illness had been diagnosed outside
the Borough) when he returned to his parents' home in Wandsworth.
A total of 194 faecal and urine specimens were submitted in these
cases.