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
Barking 1934
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barking]
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(e) General.—Non-notifiable infectious diseases amongst school-children are
much more easily traced than the diseases amongst adults.
As you know, the School Attendance Officers of the Education Committee are
General Inquiry Officers, and we have a lot of reliable information on which we can
act so far as infectious diseases amongst school-children are concerned.
4. BARKING HOSPITAL
(a)
| Disease. | In Hospital January, 1st, 1934. | Admitted during the year. | Died. | Discharged. | In Hospital Dec. 31st, 1934. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Fever | 58 | 479 | 5 | 463 | 69 |
| Diphtheria (including Membranous Croup) | 39 | 397 | 21 | 347 | 68 |
| Enteric Fever | — | 2 | — | — | |
| Puerperal Fever | 1 | 1 | — | 2 | — |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | — | 4 | 2 | 2 | — |
| Pneumonia | — | 38 | 6 | 32 | — |
| Erysipelas | 4 | 15 | — | 18 | 1 |
| Measles and Mastoiditis | — | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Anterior Poliomyelitis | 1 | — | — | 1 | — |
| Others | 27 | 4 | 22 |
(b) Number of Bed Days.—The total number of bed days in the infectious
diseases hospital during 1934 was 39,976—that is to say, an average of 109 patients
were in hospital throughout the 365 days in the year.
5. ARTIFICIAL IMMUNISATION.
Our efforts to promote artificial immunisation against diphtheria may be said
to have failed. I hold the opinion that unless very large numbers of people are
immunised, immunisation has but little influence on the incidence and death rate
from diphtheria, so that I look for no public benefit from the amount of diphtheria
immunisation which has been carried out.