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 1950
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The condition at the end of the year of the 145 cases notified was :—
| (a) Vision unimpaired | 135 |
| (b) Vision impaired | 1 |
| (c) Vision lost | — |
| 1 | |
| (e) Under treatment | 2 |
| (/) Removed from the county | 6 |
| Total | 145 |
Notified cases of pneumonia in 1950 numbered 1,691, or 0.499 per 1,000, compared
with 0.550 per 1,000 in 1949. Pneumonia is considerably under-notified,
particularly at ages over 65, and it is believed that over the whole age range only
about one-quarter to one-third of the total cases are notified. There is, however,
no reason to suppose that this fraction varies from year to year so that notifications
may still be used as a relative index of incidence. It will be seen from Table 9 that
the 1950 notification rate is lower than either war-time or pre-war rates. There is no
doubt that the development of many infections is now inhibited by the early
administration of sulpha drugs or anti-biotics. See page 12 for comment on the deathrate.
Pneumonia
In 1950 poliomyelitis was again epidemic. During the year 430 cases occurred
(corrected notifications) and there were 36 deaths, giving a crude case mortality of
8.4 per cent. In the 1949 outbreak there were 668 cases and 50 deaths, so the
1950 outbreak was milder than in the previous year. In 1950 34.9 per cent, of cases
were of infants under 5 years of age.
Poliomyelitis
and polioencephalitis
The variations in age distribution are interesting. Prior to 1947 the percentage of cases under 5 had been falling since 1930, and the proportion of adult cases had been rising, as will be seen from the following figures :—
| Year | Total No. | Under 5 years of age | Year | Total No. | Under 5 years of age | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | ||||||
| 1921-3 | 209 | 116 | 55.5 | 1942-4 | 88 | 41 | 46.6 |
| 1924-6 | 266 | 152 | 57.1 | 1945 | 70 | 22 | 31.4 |
| 1927-9 | 206 | 117 | 56.8 | 1946 | 39 | 14 | 35.9 |
| 1930-2 | 182 | 107 | 58.8 | 1947 | 702 | 196 | 27.9 |
| 1933-5 | 225 | 112 | 49.8 | 1948 | 141 | 47 | 33.3 |
| 1936-8 | 280 | 114 | 40.7 | 1949 | 668 | 356 | 53.3 |
| 1939-41 | 159 | 72 | 45.3 | 1950 | 430 | 150 | 34.9 |
The 1950 age distribution was :— Poliomyelitis notifications (corrected), 1950
| Age | No. | % |
|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 150 | 34.9 |
| 5-14 | 149 | 34.6 |
| 15-24 | 64 | 14.9 |
| 25+ | 67 | 15.6 |
| Total | 430 | 100.0 |