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
London County Council 1902
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Age-period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 1,000 living. | Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 1,000 living. | |||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Deaths. | |||||||
| All ages | 8,835 | 288 | 33 | 409 | 13 | 9,417 | 274 | 29 | 390 | 11 |
| 0— | 132 | 16 | 12.1 | 238 | 29 | 98 | 13 | 13.3 | 178 | 24 |
| 1— | 363 | 40 | 11.0 | 738 | 81 | 313 | 34 | 10.9 | 636 | 69 |
| 2— | 657 | 62 | 9.4 | 1,322 | 125 | 626 | 50 | 8.0 | 1,264 | 101 |
| 3— | 874 | 50 | 5.7 | 1,805 | 103 | 886 | 51 | 5.8 | 1,808 | 104 |
| 4— | 962 | 34 | 3.5 | 2,031 | 72 | 965 | 24 | 2.5 | 2,047 | 51 |
| 5— | 3,292 | 60 | 1.8 | 1,481 | 27 | 3,680 | 72 | 2.0 | 1,639 | 32 |
| 10 | 1,345 | 10 | 0.7 | 641 | 5 | 1,454 | 10 | 0.7 | 680 | 5 |
| 15 | 586 | 9 | 1.5 | 278 | 4 | 566 | 4 | 0.7 | 241 | 2 |
| 20 | 336 | 4 | 1.2 | 153 | 2 | 366 | 8 | 2.2 | 139 | 3 |
| 25— | 215 | 3 | 1.4 | 57 | 1 | 355 | 7 | 2.0 | 80 | 2 |
| 35— | 58 | - | 20 | — | 77 | - | - | 25 | - | |
| 45— | 11 | - | 6 | — | 22 | - | - | 10 | - | |
| 55 and upwards | 4 | ——— | - | 2 | - | 9 | 1 | ll.1 | 4 | 0 |
An outbreak of scarlet fever in East London, due to milk received from a farm in the provinces,
of which particulars were given in the last annual report, led the Council to include
in their General Powers Bill of 1902 clauses to enable the Council to exercise for the whole
county the power of prohibition of an infected milk supply, similar to that possessed by the
sanitary authorities in respect of their several districts. The clauses further required milk vendors
to supply, when required, lists of their customers and information as to the sources from
which they derived their milk supplies. The clauses were not accepted by Parliament, and these
powers are, therfore, still wanting for London.
Diphtheria.
The cases of diphtheria notified in the administrative county of London in 1902 (53 weeks)
numbered 10,731, compared with 12,156 in 1901. The number of deaths registered from this
cause in 1902 was 1,159, compared with 1,330 in 1901.
The diphtheria case-rates and death-rates in 1902 and preceding periods are shown in the following table—
| Period. | Death-rate per 1,000 living. | Case-rate per 1,000 living. | Case-mortality per cent. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1861-70 | 0.18 | —† | —† |
| 1871-80 | 0.12 | —† | —† |
| 1881-90 | 0.26 | -† | —† |
| 1891 | 0.311 | 1.5 | 22.5 |
| 1892 | 0.441 | 2.0 | 22.2 |
| 1893 | 0.741 | 3.2 | 23.3 |
| 1894 | 0.611 | 2.6 | 23.6 |
| 1895 | 0.521 | 2.6 | 20.4 |
| 1896 | 0.591 | 3.1 | 19.3 |
| 1897 | 0.501 | 3.0 | 17.0 |
| 1898 | 0.391 | 2.7 | 14.8 |
| 1899 | 0.431 | 3.1 | 14.2 |
| 1900 | 0.341 | 2.7 | 12.8 |
| 1901 | 0.291 | 2.7 | 10.9 |
| 1902 | 0.251 | 2.3 | 10.8 |
The death-rate in each year since 1858 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period 18591902
is shown for diphtheria and for diphtheria and croup combined in diagram XII.
The monthly case-rate and case-mortality in each of the years 1891-1902 in relation to the
mean of the whole period is shown in diagram XIV.
If the London diphtheria death-rate be compared with the death-rates of the following
large English towns it will be seen that in the period 1892-1901 the London rate exceeded
the rates of all these towns except West Ham; while in 1902 it was lower than the rates of
any except Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester and Newcastle.
* In the preparation of this table, the percentages are calculated on the number of cases notified in London, and the number of
deaths occurring in London and the institutions belonging to London.
t See footnote (*), page 48. 1 See footnote ('), p^ge 12.