London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Marylebone 1941

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]

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Restaurants, Tea-Rooms, etc.—At the end of 1941 there were 236 premises in the Borough in which meals are
provided or food is sold already cooked or is prepared for sale. This number includes restaurant and dining-room
kitchens, 160 ; tea-rooms and pastry-cookshops, 50 ; and hotel kitchens, 26. During the year the total number of
inspections was 715, the number of notices served being 21.
Bacteriological Examinations.—During the year, apart from milk samples, six samples of canned meat roll were
examined bacteriologically. All were found to be satisfactory.
Food and Drugs Act, 1938.—The total number of samples taken in 1941 under the Food and Drugs Act, 1938,
was 700 (70 formal, 630 informal) and included : milk 111, butter 73, margarine 30, cheese 16. No sample was found
to be adulterated. The sum paid in respect of each analysis was 12s. 6d. The fee payable for the examination of,
and the determination of meat in, sausages was increased to £1 Is. Od. per sample as from 1st September, 1941.
Samples of food and drugs analysed in 1940 numbered 931.
At the end of the year five premises appeared on the register of premises where artificial cream is manufactured,
sold or exposed or kept for sale for human consumption. In no instance was action under the statute called for.
Food Decontamination.—Arrangements for. dealing with gas-contaminated foodstuffs included the appointment of
three sanitary'inspectors as gas contamination officers; the provision of a decontamination depot in Paddington
to be used jointly by the Paddington and St. Marylebone Borough Councils; the earmarking of the necessary
transport, and the training of food treatment squads obtained from the personnel of the light rescue service.
SECTION F.—PREVALENCE OF, AND CONTROL OVER, INFECTIOUS AND
OTHER DISEASES.
Table 6 on page 12 lists the diseases notifiable in St. Marylebone, and shows the number of notifications received,
the age distribution, the number of cases notified from each of the three registration sub-districts, and the total deaths
during the year. No cases of food poisoning, which is also notifiable in the Borough, were reported in 1941.
Immunisation.—Diphtheria.—The Schick Testing and Diphtheria Immunisation Clinic continued to operate at
Health Centre No. 1 and at the Middlesex Hospital. T.A.F. (Toxoid-Antitoxin-Floccules in suspension) was the
diphtheria prophylactic employed until September, 1941, when a change over to A.P.T. (Alum Precipitated Toxoid)
was made. Table 5 gives details of the work done during the year.

TABLE 5.

Work of the Diphtheria Immunisation Clinics.

Pre-school children.School children.Adults.Totals.
Attendances7431,6433112,697
New cases228455105788
Schick negative231015
Completely immunised but not retested19137973643
Retested841692255
Positive after retest827136

These figures, which are more than treble those of 1940, include the following numbers of children completely immunised
elsewhere than at the clinics : in five of the larger public air-raid shelters, 71 ; in London County Council
elementary schools—Barrow Hill Road, 41 ; Gateforth Street, 23.
Typhoid Fever.—Forty-one persons were inoculated against this disease at the special municipal clinic opened
towards the end of 1940.
Influenza.—Forty-six members of the Council's Civil Defence Service received inoculations against influenza during
the autumn of 1941.
Vaccination.—Vaccinations carried out during 1941 numbered 264 (primary, 209 ; re-vaccinations, 55). Vaccination
was successful in 231 instances ; unsuccessful in 30 ; while 3 cases were awaiting inspection.
Of the 1,565 children whose births were registered in the Borough in 1940, 760 (48.56%) were successfully vaccinated.
Typhus Fever.—With the existence of louse-borne typhus fever in Europe and North Africa and the possibility of
its introduction into this country, provisional arrangements were made, in conjunction with neighbouring boroughs,
for dealing with cases and contacts and for preventing spread of the disease.
Anthrax.—Early in June a number of deaths from anthrax occurred among the animals in the Zoological Gardens,
Regent's Park, as a result of the consumption of a diseased carcase. Steps were taken to prevent spread of the disease,
and all human contacts (keepers, etc.) with the animals or the food were kept under close observation. No case in
man was reported.
Scabies.—The Council's Cleansing Station in Lisson Grove dealt with 751 cases of scabies during the year : adults 251
(males 139, females 112) ; children 500 (boys 231, girls 269). The benzyl benzoate preparation used for treatment
purposes proved very effective. Owing to the increasing prevalence of the disease, arrangements were made for the
establishment of a scabies clinic, with the necessary disinfecting plant, in the Middlesex Hospital Annexe to serve the
eastern part of the Borough, and works of adaptation were put in hand by the hospital authorities towards the end of
the year. The Council will contribute to the hospital's expenses in maintaining the clinic. The Scabies Order, 1941,
made by the Minister of Health on the 28th October, 1941, provides local authorities with extended powers for dealing
with verminous conditions.