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
Beckenham 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beckenham]
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27
ANTI-TOXIN ORDER, 1910.
A supply of Diphtheria Anti-Toxin is kept on ice at the Health
Department and is given free to doctors for use in cases of
Diphtheria. During the year 48,000 units were used fpr curative
purposes and 40,000 units for prophylactic purposes.
The following tabular statement gives some particulars relating to the number of carriers found and the number of "home contacts" injected with Anti-Toxin in the years mentioned. These details are not available for the years 1915-18: —
| 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1919 | 1920 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cases of Diphtheria notified | 71 | 79 | 98 | 42 | 59 |
| Number of houses infected | 67 | 67 | 88 | 37 | 51 |
| Number of contacts in the home | 428 | 309 | 465 | 168* | 264 |
| Number of " home contacts " examined bac-teriologically | 352 | 266 | 306 | 109* | 192 |
| Number of "contact carriers" found | 17 | 12 | 32 | nil* | 8 |
| Number of contacts injected with Antitoxin | 250 | 193 | 251 | 32 | 37 |
* These numbers do npt include 98 " Schppl Contacts," amongst
whom 12 carriers were found.
The following case is of interest in connection with the use of
???-toxin as a prophylactic. E.R.W. fell ill with Diphtheria on
August 24th, 1920. Patient swabbed on August 27th and Diphtheria
Bacilli found. Removed to hospital August 28th, 1920. After removal
9 contacts in the house were swabbed and received a prophylactic
injection of Anti-toxin. The swabs from the contacts were
all negative. E.R.W. was discharged from hospital on October 2nd,
and on October 6th M.W. sickened with a sore throat and a swab
taken gave a culture of Diphtheria Bacilli. She was removed to
hospital. This case is of interest because at the time of the first
case she did not receive a prophylactic injection. There were 12
cpntacts in all; 9 received prophylactic injections and 3 did not.
M.W. and two adult males were at work and were not swabbed nor
injected. E.R.W., on his return from hospital, slept in the same