London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hendon 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hendon]
This page requires JavaScript
90
The rapidity with which the tympanum is destroyed when
diphtheria organisms reach the middle ear is little short of
the dramatic. Ears which have bec6me thus affected are in
different case from those infected in scarlet fever. In the
latter instance it is possible to save the tympanum by surgery
if not by medication, but time and again, at the first appearance
of ear discharge in diphtheria it has been found that so
much damage to the ear drum has occurred that any hope of
saving it must be abandoned and the only medical treatment
is palliative, i.e., to dry up the discharge—which often consists
almost entirely of diphtheria bacilli insofar as bacterial content
is concerned—by means of ionisation.
SCARLET FEVER.
| 1936. | 1937. | 1938. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cases discharged or died, notified as Scarlet Fever or ? Scarlet Fever | 222 | 208 | 281 |
| Cases found to be suffering from Scarlet Fever on admission (including dual infections) | 205 | 195 | 265 |
| Deaths due to Scarlet Fever | 1 | 1 | — |
| Case mortality rate | 0.5% | 0.5% | Nil |
DUAL INFECTIONS.
Of the scarlet fever cases discharged during the year the
following were found on admission to be suffering from concurrent
dual infections:—
Scarlet Fever and Measles 2
Scarlet Fever and Whooping Cough 2
Scarlet Fever and Chicken Pox 2
Scarlet Fever and Dysentery (Sonne) 1