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
Finchley 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Finchley]
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In 1921 the incidence of scarlet fever and diphtheria was
higher than in the subsequent years. Scarlet fever continues
to be a mild disease, but during 1925 the infection
in several cases of diphtheria has been virulent, there being
6 deaths out of a total of 79 cases.
A supply of diphtheria antitoxin is kept at the Public
Health Department for issue to local practitioners. It is
not the usual practice in the district to administer antitoxin
before the patient is removed to hospital. One occasionally
finds that in doubtful cases too much reliance is placed on
the bacterioligical report on a swab, which is often misleading,
and when a case eventually proves to be one of diphtheria
much valuable time has been lost before antitoxin is
administered.
The bacteriological work for the district is mostly carried out at the Joint Isolation Hospital, and during 1925 the following specimens were dealt with :—
| Positive. | Negative. | Doubtful. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diphtheria | 46 | 310 | — | 356 |
| Pulmonary Tuberculosis | 7 | 73 | — | 8O |
| Enteric Fever | 0 | 2 | — | 2 |
| Ringworm | 6 | 8 | — | 14 |
| 452 | ||||
There was a small outbreak of enteric fever in the
Autumn of 1921 involving 11 persons, children and adults
being affected alike. The source of infection was not
discovered.
Cases of infectious disease are admitted to the Hornsey,
Finchley and Wood Green Joint Isolation Hospital. At
various times the accommodation has been found to be inadequate
to meet the needs of the districts which it serves,
resulting in Finchley cases having to be sent to Barnet
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