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 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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4
Poliomyelitis
and Polioencephalitis
(infantile
paralysis)
During the year under review, 56 cases of poliomyelitis and polioencephalitis
were notified. The diagnosis was not, however, confirmed in 5 cases. Of the 51
actual cases, 4 proved fatal. In addition 2 deaths were recorded by the RegistrarGeneral
of cases which had not been notified, making a total of 6 deaths for the year.
Eleven cases of poliomyelitis were admitted to the Western hospital, where
special facilities are provided for the treatment of acute cases. Eight of these were
later transferred to Queen Mary's hospital, Carshalton, where treatment is provided for
paralysis following the acute stage of the disease, and 3 had been discharged before
the end of the year.
Admissions of cases of this disease to Queen Mary's hospital numbered 76 (46
male and 30 female) and 38 males and 29 females were discharged. There were 11
males and 37 females under treatment at the end of the year.
Notifications, as shown below, were received in each registration year since 1921, excluding duplicate notifications and military cases:—
| Year. | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | 1931 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cerebrospinal fever | 103 | 86 | 65 | 93 | 93 | 83 | 93 | 70 | 121 | 88 | 175 |
| Encephalitis lethargica | 233 | 66 | 98 | 600 | 293 | 224 | 142 | 100 | 92 | 60 | 40 |
| Poliomyelitis and polioencephalitis | 57 | 40 | 111 | 116 | 55 | 95 | 86 | 54 | 66 | 37 | 56 |
Measles.
The deaths from measles in 1931 totalled 115, compared with 1,027 in 1930.
The disease became epidemic towards the end of the year. The deaths in successive four-weekly periods in this epidemic compare with the figures for the three preceding epidemics as follows:—
| Years. | October—December. | January—June. | Total. (36 weeks). | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931-32 | 7 | 16 | 44 | 59 | 69 | 152 | 240 | 157 | 92 | 836 |
| 1929-30 | 10 | 24 | 50 | 91 | 133 | 243 | 269 | 189 | 50 | 1,059 |
| 1927-28 | 6 | 41 | 83 | 163 | 200 | 362 | 322 | 188 | 73 | 1,438 |
| 1925-26 | 38 | 84 | 133 | 216 | 196 | 205 | 167 | 84 | 27 | 1,150 |
Whooping
cough.
It will be noted that the epidemic of 1931-32 was less severe than that of 1929-30.
There were 307 deaths from whooping-cough in London during 1931, compared
with 128 in 1930. The death-rate was 0-07 per thousand.
Scarlet
fever.
There were 12,025 notifications of scarlet fever in 1931 (52 weeks), the
corresponding figure for 1930 being 16,699 (53 weeks). The attack-rate was 2.8 per
thousand as against 3.7 in 1930.
The deaths numbered 71, giving a death-rate of 0.02 per thousand of population
at all ages, and a case mortality of 0.6 per cent.
Diphtheria.
The notifications of diphtheria numbered 8,384 in 1931 (52 weeks), compared
with 13,411 (53 weeks) in 1930. This gives an attack-rate of 1.9 per thousand, as
against 3.0 in the preceding year.
There were 262 deaths, giving a death-rate of 0.06 per thousand living. The
case mortality was 31 per cent. compared with 3 3 in 1930.
Diarrhœa
and Enteritis.
Diarrhœa and enteritis caused 638 deaths among children under two years of
age, or 9.71 per thousand births. The corresponding rate in 1930 was 9.89.
Puerperal
fever and
pyrexia.
There were 291 notifications of puerperal fever and 828 of puerperal pyrexia in
1931 (52 weeks) compared with 293 and 740, respectively, in 1930 (53 weeks). The
deaths from puerperal sepsis numbered 132, and from other accidents of childbirth
118 ; the deaths per 1,000 births being 2.01 and 1.80, respectively.
The death-rates from puerperal fever and other accidents of childbirth per
thousand births in each metropolitan borough, and in the county of London in the