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 1906
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Period. | Notified cases—Age-periods. | Increase ( + ) or decrease (—) per cent. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-3 | 3-13 | 13 and upwards. | 0-3 | 3-13 | 13 and upwards. | |
| 184 | 1,330 | 233 | _ | _ | — | |
| 195 | 947 | 208 | + 6.0 | -28.8 | -10.7 | |
| 182 | 1,471 | 309 | -6.7 | +55.3 | +48.6 | |
Scarlet Fever—Age and sex distribution.
The following table shows the notified cases, deaths, case-rates, death-rates and fatality of
scarlet fever at the several ages and for each sex in London during the year 1906. It will be seen that
the case-rate, death-rate and fatality were all higher among males than among females at "all ages."
In the age groups adopted for the purposes of this table, the greatest incidence of attack was
upon both males and females of four years of age. The greatest incidence of death was upon males
of three and females of two years of age. The fatality, it will be observed, was highest among both
males and females of one year of age.
| Age-period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notified cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | Notified cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | |||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Deaths. | |||||||
| 0— | 129 | 8 | 6.2 | 225 | 14 | 90 | 7 | 7.8 | 158 | 12 |
| ]— | 364 | 40 | 110 | 718 | 79 | 353 | 35 | 9.9 | 696 | 69 |
| 2— | 667 | 46 | 6.9 | 1,302 | 90 | 667 | 45 | 6.7 | 1,307 | 88 |
| 3— | 962 | 64 | 6.7 | 1,927 | 128 | 899 | 38 | 4.2 | 1,780 | 75 |
| 4— | 1,041 | 39 | 3.7 | 2,131 | 80 | 1,071 | 25 | 2.3 | 2,203 | 51 |
| 5— | 3,978 | 68 | 1.7 | 1,735 | 30 | 4,497 | 62 | 1.4 | 1,943 | 27 |
| 10 | 1,503 | 16 | 1.1 | 695 | 7 | 1,741 | 20 | 1.1 | 790 | 9 |
| 15— | 468 | 7 | 1.5 | 215 | 3 | 537 | 6 | 1.1 | 222 | 2 |
| 20— | 256 | 6 | 2.3 | 113 | 3 | 391 | 4 | 1.0 | 144 | 1 |
| 25— | 194 | 1 | 0.5 | 50 | 0 | 353 | 4 | 1.1 | 77 | 1 |
| 35— | 50 | 1 | 2.0 | 17 | 0 | 80 | 1 | 1.2 | 25 | 0 |
| 45— | 10 | — | — | 5 | — | 19 | — | — | 8 | — |
| 55 & upwards | 5 | — | — | 2 | — | 4 | — | — | 2 | - |
Compared with the case-rates of 1905 there was decrease in 1906 at each age under five years
and increase at the ages of five years and upwards. This was especially manifest at the age of ten.
In the reports of several medical officers of health reference is made to the association of prevalence
of scarlet fever and school attendance, and such relation was observed in Paddington in the Queen's
Park and Harrow wards, in Westminster in connection with a group of schools on both sides of Vauxhall
Bridge-road at its lower end, in Hampstead in connection with the Broomsleigh-street School, and in
Lambeth where nine schools had to be disinfected. In St. Pancras, cases occurred among the scholars
of Park Chapel Schools, Arlington-road, where some nineteen children were attacked, possibly from playing
out of school with a child who had probably suffered from scarlatina, but whose illness had been supposed
to be measles. Of 422 cases in Finsbury in which the cause of infection could be traced, it was found
to be due in 95 instances to infection in the family, in 119 to cases in the same house or building, and
in 46 cases to infection in the school. In Bermondsey, where similar observation was made in 118 cases,
72 cases were infected in the house or family, 19 cases were infected in neighbouring houses, and 15 cases
were infected in school.
In the report of Dr. Kerr (see Appendix II) it is stated that 36 classrooms and 6 departments were
closed during the year on account of scarlet fever prevalence among the scholars.
1 In the preparation of this table the rates and 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.