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 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The school notifications of measles each month from October to March, were as follows :—
| 1925. | 1926. | Total. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. (4 weeks). | Nov. (4 weeks). | Dec. (3½weeks). | Jan. (3 weeks). | Feb. (4 weeks). | Mar. (4 weeks). | ||
| No. of cases of measles reported from Council's schools | 1,504 | 3,302 | 4,977 | 8,101* | 12,111 | 8,032 | 38,027 |
* Including Christmas holiday cases.
In the diagram on page 101 contours are given showing the progress of measles
epidemics in recent years based upon the cases reported among children attending
the Council's schools. The climax of the epidemics both in 1920 and 1922 was
reached about the 12th week in the year ; the 1924 and 1926 epidemics are shown to
have commenced appreciably earlier and the climax was reached in both some
three or four weeks earlier than in the two preceding epidemics. The marked
decrease in cases in the 10th and 11th weeks of 1926 suggest the early termination
of this epidemic.
Mortality and Complications.—In view of the fact that measles has never been
wholly notifiable, the Order of 1915, mentioned above, having only referred to first
cases in a household, there are no figures on which to base the case-mortality from
measles in London. In Aberdeen, however, measles was notifiable for the 20 years
1883-1902, and the mortality figures show that under one year of age the percentage
case mortality was 13.9, from one to two years 10.0, two to three years 3.4, three to
four years 1-6, and four to five years 0.9, the rates gradually diminishing to vanishing
point from these ages onward. These figures show that the burden of mortality fell
mainly on children under two years of age, and the mortality returns of the
Registrar General still show that the great majority of deaths occur among very
young children.
The deaths from measles during the 1925-6 epidemic from the beginning of November, 1925, up to the end of March, 1926, are as follows
| November. | December. | January. | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week ending— | 7 th. | 14th. | 21st. | 28th. | 5th. | 12th. | 19th. | 26th. | 2nd. | 9th. | 16th. | 23rd. | 30th. | ||||
| No. of deaths (all ages) | 8 | 15 | 15 | 28 | 26 | 21 | 31 | 37 | 44 | 35 | 58 | 63 | 60 | ||||
| February. | March. | Total. | |||||||||||||||
| Week ending— | 6th. | 13th. | 20th. | 27th. | 6th. | 13th. | 20th. | 27th. | |||||||||
| No. of deaths (all ages) | 39 | 49 | 61 | 47 | 40 | 60 | 56 | 49 | 842 | ||||||||
The most common complications to which death is due during an attack of
measles are bronchitis and pneumonia, diarrhoea and convulsions. Measles is
especially fatal in rickety children. In many non-fatal cases measles may be the
forerunner of such ailments as chronic bronchitis, pleurisy, tuberculosis and other
lung disorders, as well as affections of the eyes and ears, conditions which cause
prolonged disablement where they do not produce death.