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 1946
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Finchley]
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MATERNAL MORTALITY
Three mothers died in 1946 giving the rather high maternal mortality rate of 2.42 per 1,000 births. All three deaths were due to Toxaemia of Pregnancy and all occurred in hospital. Only one of these mothers attended the Antenatal Clinic.
| INFECTIOUS DISEASE | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diphtheria | 9 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| Scarlet Fever | 194 | 125 | 109 | 102 |
| Smallpox | 3 | |||
| Enteric Fever | 1 | |||
| Cerebro-Spinal Fever | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Pneumonia | 60 | 49 | 38 | 56 |
| Measles | 364 | 83 | 618 | 403 |
| Whooping Cough | 78 | 201 | 57 | 168 |
| Infantile Paralysis | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
The table does not call for much comment, except that there
were 13 cases of diphtheria and 7 of Infantile Paralysis.
All the diphtheria cases occurred in the first half of the
year and the majority of them were in the same neighbourhood, yet
with the exceptions of a husband and wife in one instance and a
brother and sister in another, no connection between the cases
could be traced. The age distribution of the cases was rather
odd in that 8 were over 20 years, 2 between 5 and 15 years and
3 under 5 years.
Only one case had been immunised and insufficient time had
elasped between Immunisation and contracting the disease to allow
the child to develop immunity.
There were no deaths.
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