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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 1944
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beckenham]
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Infectious Disease Summary, 1944.
| Disease | Beck. | ww. | Service | Total | 0/1 | 1/2 | 2/3 | 3/4 | 4/5 | 5/ 10 | 10/ 15 | 15/ 20 | 211 35 | 35/ 45 | 45/ 65 | Over 65 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Fever | 80 | 87 | 167 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 76 | 33 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 2 | — | |
| Diphtheria | 18 | 5 | 3 | 26 | 1 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | _ | — |
| Erysipelas | 6 | 7 | — | 13 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 | 5 |
| Pneumonia | 29 | 11 | — | 40 | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 7 |
| Poliomyelitis | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dysentery | 2 | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| Puerperal | ||||||||||||||||
| Pyrexia | 10 | -- | — | 10 | — | — | — | . — | — | — | — | 10 | — | — | ' — | |
| Measles | 113 | 15 | 3 | 131 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 84 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — |
| Mumps | 2 | 2 | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Chickenpox | 46 | 18 | — | 64 | 1 | 1 | — | 2 | 2 | 50 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Whooping | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Cough | 39 | 11 | — | 50 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
DIPHTHERIA
Twenty-six cases of Diphtheria were notified compared with
sixteen in 1943. Two cases were Diphtheria carriers and not
clinical cases of the disease.
Eighteen cases (including one carrier) occurred in the original
Beckenham area ; five (including one carrier) in West Wickham
and there were three cases among members of the Forces.
Six of the cases had received protective injections but only
two had been tested after the injections and found to be protected ;
one of the four remaining cases contracted the disease within a few
days of the completion of the course of injections and so had no time
to acquire any protection : one of these six cases was not a clinical
case but a carrier. The period elapsing between completion of
course of injection and the onset of the disease varied from twelve
months to seven years,
The age incidence of the cases was as follows (carriers excluded):
0—4 5—14 15—24 25—40
4 6 9 5
This is a most unusual age distribution, nearly 60% of the cases
being over the age of fourteen. The type of infection was, as in
1943, a very virulent one and but for the high degree of protection
conferred by immunisation among children under the age of fifteen,
I am convinced that the number of cases occurring at those ages
would have been very much larger.
SCARLET FEVER.
Scarlet Fever was prevalent in 1943, reaching its peak in the
winter : the incidence gradually declined during the spring of 1944,
and as mentioned before, practically disappeared in the summer and
autumn ; the incidence was still low at the end of the year.
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