View report page

1
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE CITY OF LONDON FOR THE YEAR 1954.
To the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commoners of the Corporation of London.
55/61, Moorgate,
London, E.C. 2.
July, 1955.
My Lord Mayor and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the following report on the work of my Department during the
year 1954.
Vital Statistics.
The resident population of the City according to the Registrar General's estimate to mid-year
1954 was 5,180. The birth rate fell to 3.78 per 1,000 and the death rate rose to 12.05 per 1,000.
There were 22 live births during the year, no premature births and no deaths of infants under
one year of age.
There were no deaths attributable to pregnancy or childbirth.
The number of deaths was 65 of which none occurred in the age group under 15 years; one
in the age group 15-25 years; 6 between 25 and 45 years; 33 between 45 and 65; 7 between 65
and 75; and 18 over 75 years.
Twenty-one deaths were due to disease of the heart or blood vessels, 15 were due to cancer
of which 4 were cancer of the lung. There was only 1 death due to tuberculosis, 4 to pneumonia
and 6 to bronchitis.
So far as these statistics, recorded in relation to such a small population, are of any value at
all, they indicate that though the City is quite a healthy place to live in, the resident population
is ageing and dying of the diseases associated with advancing years, and is not being replaced by
children born in the City or by young immigrants.
I have previously drawn attention to the desirability of providing more housing accommodation
within the City, and recorded my opinion that there are many people who would be glad to
live in the City if accommodation was available.
Infectious Diseases.
The incidence of infectious diseases remained low.
There was only one case of poliomyelitis.
Cases of Puerperal Fever and Tuberculosis fell to 2 and 19 compared with 11 and 29 respectively
in the previous year.
Mass Radiography.
The Mass Radiography Unit of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board
continued to operate during the year from your premises at 20, Golden Lane.
The total number of examinees was 58,471.
The Unit is also available to the Boroughs of Finsbury, Stepney and Shoreditch, though
the majority of examinees are persons employed in the City.
Last year I did not receive the Annual Report of the Medical Director until my annual report
had gone to press, I therefore reproduce here the summary of and comments on his report for
the year 1953, which I submitted to the Public Health Committee on 30th September, 1954.
The total number of persons examined during 1953 was 60,225, of whom 33,913 were males
and 26,312 females. Amongst the males 49 cases of Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis were
discovered, a rate of 1.44 per 1,000. Amongst the females 36 cases of Active Pulmonary
Tuberculosis were found, a rate of 1.47 per 1,000. These rates are about half those for the
country as a whole as recorded in the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry
of Health for the year 1952. In addition 1,648 cases of inactive Pulmonary Tuberculosis were
recorded.
The number of cases found actually to have tubercle bacilli in the sputum was 15—12 men
and 3 women. The Medical Director estimates that he examined about 11 per cent. of the working
population of the City, and assuming that the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in the other 89
per cent. was about the same, he concludes that there are "at least 150 persons every day
expectorating live, virulent tubercle bacilli in the square mile of the City of London". He goes
on to say, "these undetected people are habitually travelling on crowded trains and buses, eating
in congested restaurants, perhaps working in overcrowded offices, and the sufferer, his family and
the general public are not aware of the peril to which they are subjected."
I think the Medical Director's assumption and conclusion are justifiable. It might be
argued that amongst those who attend for examination by mass radiography there will be a high
proportion of people who have reasons for anxiety and therefore that the discovered incidence of
pulmonary tuberculosis amongst the examinees is higher than amongst the 89 per cent. who do
not attend for examination; but I am of the opinion that those who attend are the more
enlightened, not the more anxious members of the community; that the unenlightened are more
careless of their health and, if they have occasion for anxiety, are more likely 'to hide their heads