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 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beckenham]
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diseases that occur more rarely, such as Cerebro-Spinal Fever,
Encephalitis Lethargica, and Small Pox are also provided for at the
Fever Hospitals, and Beckenham by special arrangement may send
selected cases of Measles to the Hospital on the recommendation
of the Medical Officer of Health.
Hospital Isolation.
| 1921. | 1922. | 1923. | 1924. | 1925. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disease. | Cases Notified | Cases Removed | Cases Notified | Oases Removed | Cases Notified | Cases Removed | Cases Notified | Cases Removed | Cases Notified | Cases Removed |
| Scarlet Fever | 118 | 94 | 80 | 58 | 35 | 28 | 64 | 54 | 53 | 42 |
| Diphtheria | 32 | 22 | 23 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 8 |
| Typhoid Fever (including Paratyphoid "A" & "B") | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Cerebro-Spinal Fever | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Encephalitis Lethargica | 6 | 0 | - | — | 2 | - | 5 | — | 5 | 1 |
| Measles | 11 | 0 | 266 | 0 | 234 | 0 | 582 | 1 | 29 | 0 |
| Totals | 172 | 119 | 374 | 71 | 293 | 43 | 678 | 74 | 163 | 53 |
In my Annual Report for 1921 I discussed the effects of hospital
isolation on Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria and the cost of this form
of treatment to the District. The institutional treatment of any
disease is a costly proceeding, and it is hoped that some more
effective and less costly methods may be devised of controlling
Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria.
In the case of Small Pox, which is not an endemic disease in
this country, the advantages of being able to isolate the first cases
when the disease breaks out are very considerable, but even here
we have in vaccination a preventive agent incomparably more
effective and valuable than hospital isolation.