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
Edmonton 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Edmonton]
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(1) An increased virulence of the disease;
(2) Persistent carriers;
(3) Nasal form of the disease;
(4) Greater variety in the morphology of the organism.
An increase in the number of cases or the virulence of the disease in
scarlet fever has not been noted, but in the last outbreak it was not uncommon
to find that scarlet fever cases were carriers of the bacillus of diphtheria, and
that the unhealthy condition of the throat, so often associated with the
presence of the germ, was a potent cause in the spread of scarlet fever.
The following table gives, for the last five years, the number of notified cases of diphtheria, the case fatality, and the fatality per 1,000 of population compared with London and the whole of England and Wales.
| Cases Notified. | Deaths. | Case Fatality. | Death Rate per 1,000 Population. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonton. | London. | England and Wales. | ||||
| 1921 | 404 | 32 | 8% | .48 | .25 | .12 |
| 1922 | 153 | 20 | 13% | .30 | .25 | .11 |
| 1923 | 81 | 6 | 7.4% | .09 | .13 | .07 |
| 1924 | 78 | 9 | 11.5% | .11 | .12 | .06 |
| 1925 | 208 | 27 | 13% | .38 | .11 | .07 |
During November, 1925, the incidence and the severity of the cases which
occurred in Enfield, as well as Edmonton, so increased that Dr. Cook, the
Medical Superintendent of the Joint Isolation Hospital, communicated with
the Ministry of Health, the result being visits of investigation by Dr. Sturdee,
of the Ministry; his report is of great importance to the community, and
I give it in toto.
30th January, 1926.
Sir,
I am directed by the Minister of Health to inform the Edmonton
Urban District Council that he had received a report by Dr. E. L. Sturdee,
one of the Medical Officers of the Department, on Diphtheria, with special
reference to the high rate of mortality from the disease in the Enfield
and Edmonton Joint Hospital.
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