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
Hendon 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hendon]
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| 1935. | 1936. | 1937. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total discharged or died, notified as diphtheria or ? diphtheria | 154 | 100 | 119 |
| Cases found to be suffering from diphtheria on admission (including bacteriological diphtheria) | 137 | 54 | 78* |
| Deaths from diphtheria | 11 | 4 | 4 |
| Case mortality rate (calculated on number of cases ofclinicaldiphtheria) | 8.5% | 7.5% | 5.1% |
| *72 diphtheria; 1 diphtheria and scarlet fever; 5 bacteriological diphtheria. | |||
It will be seen that four deaths due to diphtheria occurred
during the year. Three of these were children between 9 and
12 years of age who were admitted on the 4th, 5th, and 7th
day of disease respectively and had " bull-neck " development
on admission. The fourth case was that of a man, aged 27
years, admitted on the 5th day of disease. This patient's
condition was aggravated by violent delirium and he died
within a few hours of admission.
In none of the four cases had antitoxin been administered
before admission.
DOUBLE INFECTIONS.
On admission one patient was found to have scarlet fever
in addition to the notified disease of diphtheria. Another
case, notified as concurrent diphtheria and scarlet fever,
proved to be one of scarlet fever only.
TRACHEOTOMY.
Tracheotomy was successfully performed in the case of
a patient who had been admitted with a notification of
diphtheria; actually the laryngeal obstruction in this instance
was due to a condition or oedema glottidis. Two further
cases of laryngeal obstruction (due to diphtheria) recovered
without necessitating tracheotomy.