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 1910
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Metropolitan borough. | Notified cases, 1910 (52 weeks). | Case rate per 1,000 persons living. | Deaths, 1910 (52 weeks). | Death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1905-9. | 1910. | 1905-9. | 1910. | |||
| Shoreditch | 48 | 0.46 | 0.43 | 8 | 0.05 | 0.07 |
| Bethnal Green | 108 | 0.44 | 0.84 | 18 | 0.07 | 0.14 |
| Stepney | 118 | 0.37 | 0.42 | 15 | 0.06 | 0.05 |
| Poplar | 62 | 0.43 | 0.38 | 13 | 0.07 | 0.08 |
| Southwark | 54 | 0.35 | 0.28 | 7 | 0.05 | 0.04 |
| Bermondsey | 38 | 0.33 | 0.30 | 4 | 0.05 | 0.03 |
| Lambeth | 78 | 0.22 | 0.26 | 18 | 0.04 | 0.06 |
| Battersea | 45 | 0.26 | 0.27 | 7 | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Wandsworth | 54 | 0.28 | 0.18 | 9 | 0.04 | 0.03 |
| Camberwell | 76 | 0.22 | 0.29 | 9 | 0.03 | 0.03 |
| Deptford | 24 | 0.31 | 0.22 | 5 | 0.06 | 0.05 |
| Greenwich | 20 | 0.32 | 0.21 | 3 | 0.06 | 0.03 |
| Lewisham | 29 | 0.20 | 0.18 | 3 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Woolwich | 10 | 0.21 | 0.08 | 1 | 0.04 | 0.01 |
| Port of London | 3 | |||||
| London | 1,284 | 0.30 | 0.28 | 196 | 0.05 | 0.04 |
It will be seen that among the several sanitary districts in the period 1905-9 the enteric fevei
death-rate was highest in Finsbury (0 09), and lowest in Lewisham (0 02); in the year 1910, Bethnal
Green (0*14) had the highest enteric fever death-rate, while Fulham and Woolwich (0 01) had the
lowest. The death-rates from enteric fever in London, in each of the four quarters of the year 1910,
were as follows : first quarter, 003 ; second quarter, 002 ; third quarter, 0 04 ; and fourth quarter, 0 07.
The following table shows the notified cases, deaths, case-rates, death-rates and fatality of enteric
fever at the several ages and for each sex in London during the year 1910. The case-rate and death-rate
were, at " all ages," higher among males, while the fatality was higher among females. In the age
groups adopted for the purposes of this table the greatest incidence of attack was upon males aged
10-15 and females aged 15-20, and the greatest incidence of death was upon males and females aged
35-45.
Enteric
fever.—Age
and sex
incidence.
The fatality was greatest among males and females aged 55 and upwards:—
| Age-period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notified Cases. (a) | Deaths. (a) | Casemortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | Notified Cases. (a) | Deaths. (a) | Case- mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | |||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Deaths. | |||||||
| All Ages- | 678 | 97 | 14.3 | 32 | 5 | 1 606 | 105 | 17.3 | 25 | 4 |
| 0— | 1 | - | 2.8 | 14 | 0 | — | - | 3.8 | 11 | 0 |
| l— | 5 | - | 1 | - | ||||||
| 2— | 7 | 1 | 6 | - | ||||||
| 3— | 9 | - | 7 | 1 | ||||||
| 4— | 14 | - | 12 | - | ||||||
| 5— | 79 | 5 | 6.3 | 36 | 2 | 74 | 4 | 5.4 | 33 | 2 |
| 10— | 101 | 6 | 5.9 | 49 | 3 | 72 | 9 | 12.5 | 34 | 4 |
| 15— | 88 | 9 | 10.2 | 42 | 4 | 82 | 5 | 6.1 | 35 | 2 |
| 20— | 91 | 7 | 7.7 | 42 | 3 | 88 | 11 | 12.5 | 34 | 4 |
| 25 | 143 | 23 | 16.1 | 39 | 6 | 144 | 30 | 20.8 | 33 | 7 |
| 35— | 76 | 26 | 34.1 | 27 | 9 | 75 | 27 | 35.9 | 24 | 9 |
| 45— | 43 | 12 | 27.8 | 22 | 6 | 31 | 10 | 32.2 | 14 | 5 |
| 55 & upwards | 21 | 8 | 38.0 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 8 | 57.0 | 6 | 3 |
The accounts of the behaviour of enteric fever in the several districts of London, contained
in the annual reports, supply evidence of the considerable efforts made to discover the sources
of infection of the cases which occurred. Upon a correct appreciation of the conditions which
have given rise to the cases which occur must depend in large degree the success of future administration
aiming at the prevention of this disease. It is interesting to note the large proportion of cases
which must have been infected outside the district where the patient resided, and indeed often outside
London, some sea-side resort where shell-fish had been consumed being frequently mentioned in the
reports as the locality in which infection was received. Thus, of 735 cases occurring in twenty of the
metropolitan boroughs, 115, or 15.7 per cent., are stated to be "imported" cases. In the reports
relating to these twenty districts account is given of the number of cases in which it was found that
an article of food had been eaten which is commonly believed to be a frequent cause of infection, and
that its consumption had occurred at a time which was consistent with the hypothesis that it had
been the cause oi infection.
(a) See footnote (a), page 35.