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
Marylebone 1923
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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50
The cost of carrying out the requirements of the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, and the various regulations with regard to notification was £40 7s. 6d. equal
to 7s. 8d. per 1,000 of the population.
The cost and rate per 1,000 for each of the past 10 years, are shown in the following table:-
| Year. | Amounts paid to Medical Practitioners | Cost per 1,000 of Population. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | 137 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 1915 | 116 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 1916 | 101 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 1917 | 163 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 15 | |
| 1918 | 86 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 6 |
| 1919 | 98 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1920 | 88 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 3 |
| 1921 | 82 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 7 |
| 1922 | 89 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 16 | 11 |
| 1923 | 40 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
Discharge Notices.—The number of certificates received from the Metropolitan
Asylums Board regarding the return of patients sent to hospital with infectious
diseases was 486 and referred to 613 cases. Visits were paid to these cases by the
District Inspectors, and advice given as to date of the return of children to school and
the advisability of obtaining treatment for and isolation of any suffering from any
sequel of a disease.
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup.
Diphtheria was less prevalent in 1923 than in any year since 1909, with the
exception of the year 1920 when 119 cases were notified. The actual number of
cases was 127, the number in 1922 being 268. Of the cases 2 died, and the case
mortality rate was 1.5 per cent., a marked reduction on the rate for 1922, viz., 11.1.
The number of cases per thousand of the population was 1.2.
The cases were more or less evenly distributed, as usual, throughout the
Borough, and only in a few instances was it possible to determine accurately the
source of infection. In 6 cases the source appeared to be a member of the family
previously infected; and in 8 cases infection was counted to have been acquired in
school.
The number of swabs from doubtful cases submitted for bacteriological
examination was 1,013. A positive result was returned in 94 instances.
Of the registration districts, that contributing the largest number of cases,
naturally, since in respect of child population it is the largest, was Christ Church,
with 47. In St. Mary the number was 34, in All Souls, 32, and in St. John, 14.
As usual the age groups 1-5 and 5-15 were those most affected, 39 of the cases
falling into the former and 49 into the latter group.
Two applications for a free supply of antitoxin under the Diphtheria Antitoxin
(London) Order, 1910, were received.
The nuisances detected during the course of investigating the notified cases
were : Dirty Premises, etc., 20. These were all remedied after service of notices.
Scarlet Fever.
There was no epidemic prevalence of this disease during the year; the number
of cases being 126 as against 339 in 1922, when there was more or less of an
epidemic throughout the metropolis.