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 1928
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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London Smallpox Notifications for the 52 weeks ended 29th December, 1928.
| Metropolitan Borough. | No. of cases Notified. | Not confinned. | Total (Confirmed cases). | Metropolitan Borough. | No. of cases Notified. | Not confirmed. | Total (Confirmed cases). |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battersea | 1 | — | 1 | Poplar | 68 | 3 | 65 |
| Bermondsey | 1 | — | 1 | St. Marylebone | 30 | 1 | 29 |
| Bethnal Green | 4 | — | 4 | St. Pancras | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Camberwell | 2 | — | 2 | Shoreditch | 3 | — | 3 |
| Chelsea | 1 | — | 1 | Southwark | 21 | 2 | 19 |
| Finsbury | 1 | — | 1 | Stepney | 4 | _ | 4 |
| Fulham | 1 | — | 1 | Wandsworth | 88 | — | 88 |
| Hackney | 1 | — | 1 | Westminster City | 2 | — | 2 |
| Holborn | 1 | — | I | Woolwich | 3 | — | 3 |
| Islington | 4 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| Lambeth | 53 | — | 53 | Total | 296 | 11 | 285 |
| Paddington | 5 | I | 4 |
The vaccinal condition at the time of infection of the 285 confirmed cases was as follows:—
| Vaccinal condition. | Ages. | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0— | 3— | 5— | 10— | 20— | 30— | 40— | 50— | 60— | 70— | 80 + | Total. | |
| Successfully vaccinated | — | — | — | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 23 | 6 | — | 75 |
| Successfully re-vaccinated | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 0 | 1 | — | 4 | |
| Unvaccinated | 8 | 8 | 52 | 80 | 30 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | 204 |
| Doubtful | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | 2 |
Measles.
The deaths from measles totalled 1,358, this being the highest number since
1922. The death rates in the metropolitan boroughs are shown in the table on
page 30.
The Medical Research Council published during the year the results of "An
Inquiry into the Relationship between Housing Conditions and the Incidence and
Fatality of Measles "undertaken by Dr. James L. Halliday in Glasgow (Special
Report Series No. 120). The higher mortality and earlier age incidence of deaths
in the poorer class areas compared with areas of better class populations observed
in London are also shown in the Glasgow figures.
While stressing the difficulty of determining the general case mortality for various age groups, Dr. Halliday states that taking the case mortality at age 5.10 years as unity, the figure for other ages appears to be:—
| 0-2 | 10 to 20 |
| 2-3 | 8 to 11 |
| 3-4 | 3½ to 4½ |
| 4-5 | l½ to 2 |
Dr. Halliday observes:—
"The special inquiry into the tenements demonstrated that a large number
of children who had not had measles, who were presumably exposed, did not
develop measles. The early cases of measles introduced into the tenements
in September and October were followed by a considerable number of directly
subsequent cases ; but first cases introduced during November to March were
not succeeded by secondary cases, although measles at that time was at its
highest in other parts of the city. The tenements which were first infected
showed the largest attack-rate among susceptibles. The samples dealt with
are small but they suggest that the development of a partial and probably
temporary immunity is one of the causes in the decline of an epidemic." (p. 33.)