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 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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degrees of severity, accompanied in one case by vomiting. Of those taken ill all had partaken of the
mid-day meal served in the staff canteen but there were some employees who had also taken the meal
but were not ill. The article of food eaten in common by all who were afterwards affected appeared
to have been roast beef, which had been cooked on Saturday, 28th June, removed from the oven and
placed in a ventilated larder, having first been securely wrapped in grease-proof paper, and then served
cold for lunch on Monday, 30th June. Fortunately, there remained portions of all the food used in
the preparation of the meal, and samples were bacteriologically examined with negative results except
in the case of the cold beef which showed a profuse growth of B. Coli. There seemed to be little doubt
that the illness was caused by the organism, which had activated over the week-end on the cold beef,
and the sharpness of the attack in all the cases indicated that the outbreak was toxic in origin.
Tuberculosis—New Cases and Mortality.—Table 12 contains information with regard to age and sex
distribution of, and mortality from, all forms of tuberculosis.
TABLE 12.—T uberculosis: New Cases and Deaths.
| At ages— years | ‡ new cases | deaths | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | N on-Pulmonary | Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | |||||
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| 0—1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1—5 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5—15 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15—25 | 9 | 15 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 25—35 | 15 | 21 | 2 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | — |
| 35—45 | 19 | 6 | — | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 45—55 | 9 | 3 | — | — | 3 | 1 | — | — |
| 55—65 | 14 | 3 | _ | _ | 4 | — | — | — |
| 65 and upwards | 9 | 1 | 2 | — | 3 | 2 | 2 | — |
| Totals | 79 | 49 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 3 | — |
‡ Including all primary notifications and also any other new cases of tuberculosis which
came to the knowledge of the Medical Officer of Health during the year.
Notifications.—The Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1952, which came into operation on
the 1st May, 1952, revoked the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1930. The new regulations
make similar provision for the notification of tuberculosis modified to accord with the structure and
administration of the services now being provided under the National Health Service Acts. Table 11
(p. 26) gives information regarding notifications of pulmonary and non-pulmonary tuberculosis received
during the year. Two hundred and thirty-six visits from the housing and sanitary viewpoints were
paid by one of the women sanitary inspectors to new cases and those moving into the Borough from
other areas. The total number of cases of tuberculosis remaining on the register at the 31st December,
1952, was 822.
Mass Miniature Radiography.—During October, 1952, a miniature radiography unit of the
North-West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board was installed at the Odeon Cinema, Marble Arch,
for the examination of workers in the surrounding area. The findings are detailed in the following Tables.
TABLE 13.—Mass Radiography: Miniature Film Analysis.
| Number recalled for large films | 59 | 57 | 116 | |
| Recall percentage | 3.10 | 2.57 | 2.82 | |