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 1945
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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11
Four cases of typhus were notified to the metropolitan borough medical officers
of health. The first of these was a member of a group of several London medical
students who assisted in relief work at Belsen camp and contracted typhus ; in the
other cases in the group the notifications were referred to home addresses outside
London.
Typhus
The other three cases included a repatriated prisoner-of-war from Germany,
a pathological laboratory assistant who became infected in the course of his work,
and a doctor who had visited Siberia.
There were 3,307 notifications of whooping-cough during the year, compared
with 7,144 in 1944. The death-rate was 0.018 per thousand (case mortality 1.4 per
cent.). Corresponding rates for 1944 were 0.047 per thousand and 1.6 per cent.
It will be seen from table 2 that the fatality for this disease is now much less than it
was a few years ago.
Whooping
cough
Reference has already been made to the mortality experienced in respect of
tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis
The civilian death-rates in 1945 in London and for the whole country were:-
| Tuberculosis deaths Pulmonary | per 1,000 living Non-pulmonary | |
|---|---|---|
| London | 0.782 | 0.086 |
| England and Wales | 0.515 | 0.099 |
Detailed figures in respect of notifications are shown in tables 11-13, on page 19. Excluding non-civilian cases, in order to relate the notifications to the civilian population, the rates of occurrence of new cases in recent years are as follows
| Year | Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 | 1.31 | 0.26 |
| 1939 | 1.26 | 0.23 |
| 1940 | 1.33 | 0.22 |
| 1941 | 1.87 | 0.30 |
| 1942 | 1.80 | 0.33 |
| 1943 | 1.87 | 0.31 |
| 1944 | 1.80 | 0.26 |
| 1945 | 1.69 | 0.23 |
While the rates are affected by the return of the civil population and to a very
small extent by the demobilisation of military personnel, i.e., the selection of 1939
in reverse, nevertheless the incidence has clearly diminished. For non-respiratory
tuberculosis there is on the whole an improvement on the pre-war position, except
for the incidence of tuberculous glands, which is still higher than in 1938 (rate for
children under fifteen 29 per cent. above 1938). The incidence of tuberculous
meningitis was notably low (65 per cent. of 1938).
The position continues to improve, and, though the upheaval of war has retarded
the downward trend in the incidence of tuberculosis, it is well to remember that
even in the worst of the war years the morbidity and mortality were much below
the level of thirty years ago, and that the gains resulting from wise legislation,
combined with public education and progress in preventive medicine, have not been
so greatly discounted as may have been feared. The battle against tuberculosis
is still the serious pre-occupation of health authorities, but the weapons are continually
being improved.