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

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Acton 1910

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Acton]

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23
except from the death returns, and from the notifications
received from the schools. The children of school age, though,
constitute only a small proportion of those attacked.
Another difficulty lies in the fact that the illness is ushered in
with indefinite symptoms. In the catarrhal stage the child has
the symptoms of an ordinary cold, and there is nothing to
distinguish the cough until it assumes its "Whooping" character.
School children suffering from Whooping Cough are notified by
the teachers, and the houses are visited by the school nurse,
and instructions are given as to the isolation of the patient and
general treatment of the illness.
It will be appreciated though, from the age incidence of the
disease, that all efforts must be centred in the home. When a
case occurs amongst school children, the contracts attending the
infants departments are excluded, but when a case occurs
amongst a child under school age, unless the parents notify the
school authorities that there is a case of Whooping Cough in
the house, both the teacher and the sanitary authority are in
complete ignorance of the existence of the disease.
SCARLET FEVER,
There was a considerable diminution in number of Scarlet
Fever notifications, 109 being received, compared with 468 in 1909
and 484 in 1908.
The majority of the cases were very mild in character, and
only two deaths resulted from the disease.
The elementary schools in which most cases occurred were
Central twenty-one, Beaumont Park eleven and Priory eleven.

The Ward distribution was as follows:—

North-East.North-West.South-East.South-West.
38122336

DIPHTHERIA.
One hundred and eighteen cases of Diptheria were notified
and nine deaths occurred from the disease.