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
Coulsdon and Purley 1940
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]
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assistance in. this District as in the majority of cases no
Doctor is called in, while visitation following school
notification of absence is too late to prevent the spread of
infection. Advice on the importance of treating cases seriously
in order to avoid complications is only necessary for a very small
proportion of the local residents. Large scale immunisation of
contacts has not so far proved practicable, but when this can be
encouraged notification and Health Visitation will doubtless
prove more valuable than at present.
TUBERCULOSIS.
The following table presents concisely the position with regard to Tuberculosis in this District during 1940:-
| PULMONARY. | NON-PULMONARY. | TOTALS. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | |
| Number of cases on register 1st January, 1940. | 91. | 90. | 18. | 26. | 109. | 116. |
| ADDITIONS 1940. | ||||||
| New cases notified | 18. | 13. | 3. | 5. | 217. | 18. |
| Cases removed into District. | 7. | 11. | 1. | 2. | 8. | 13. |
| Restored to Register | l. | - | - | - | 1. | - |
| TOTAL ADDITIONS | 26. | 24. | 4. | 7. | 30. | 31. |
| REMOVALS 1940. | ||||||
| Deaths | 10. | 11. | 3. | 2. | 13. | 15. |
| Removed from District. | 19. | 21. | 2. | 6. | 21. | 27. |
| Recovered. | 2. | 5. | - | - | 2. | 6. |
| Non-Tuberculous | 1. | — | - | - | 1. | - |
| Total removed from Register. | 32. | 37. | 5. | 9. | 37. | 46. |
| Number on register 31st December 1940. | 85. | 77. | 17. | 24. | 102. | 101. |
While the number of new cases of both pulmonary and
non-pulmonary Tuberculosis notified were slightly less than in
recent years, the incidence per 1,000 population was about the
average. Similarly the death rates from both forms of the
disease showed but little change.
The only variation in the routine measures taken for
the prevention of Tuberculosis was the institution of an enquiry
into the methods being used by notified cases for obtaining
shelter against air attack at nights. No cases likely to cause
infection were found to be using the public shelters and in the
few cases in which risk was being incurred through the communal
use of private air raid shelters an appeal was made to adopt
suggested alternative forms of protection