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
Croydon 1930
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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253
Group III.
(a) Found dry and requiring no treatment—82.
(b) Found dry, but recommended for accessory treatment such
as tonsillectomy—18.
(c) Active cases—103.
Cases attending and receiving successful treatment of a relapse
are not shown again in the table as anything but failures. Were
these cases regarded as new cases very convincing figures could be
obtained, but they would not be strictly accurate.
One is under treatment with the Eustachian catheter but is
possibly an early case of otosclerosis.
Three were cases of nerve deafness, one of them following
mumps. One of these was referred for a hard of hearing class.
Table XXIX shews the duration of the otorrhœa in Group
III and Table XXX gives the causes assigned by the relatives.
Table XXIX.
| Less than 3 months | 3-6 months | 6 months— 1 year | —2 years | 2—5 years | More than 5 years | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 (11) | 12 (4) | 6(8) | 5(13) | 12 (41) | 17 (28) | 12 (23) |
The figures in this table refer to the year 1930, those in brackets
being the figures for 1928-1929. As anticipated, the average duration
has fallen, although not markedly. But there is still a large
number of very chronic cases turning up. A great many start in
infancy or early childhood, but experience with one or two under
school age has shown that while early treatment is beneficial it is
difficult to obtain the co-operation of the patient in the delicate
maniupulation required. The maintenance of a healthy throat and
nose in early childhood, with consequent prevention of infected
ears, is the rational way of tackling the problem.