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
Woolwich 1923
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Woolwich]
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TABLE No. 36.
| Period elapsing between first and subsequent cases. | Number of Families : | Total subsequent cases. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serial Number | of Case. | |||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||
| Days .. 0— 2 | 30 | 1 | 1 | — | _ | _ | _ | 32 |
| — 4 | 26 | 7 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 34 |
| — 6 | 20 | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | 25 |
| — 8 | 13 | 6 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 20 |
| —10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | — | — | — | — | 18 |
| —20 | 23 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 43 |
| —30 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 12 |
| Months.. — 3 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 30 |
| — 6 | 5 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 10 |
| Years .. — 1 | 8 | 1 | 9 | |||||
| — 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 14 |
| — 3 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 4 |
| Totals | 171 | 48 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 251 |
It should be noted that this Table refers every case to the
first case in the family, and takes no cognisance of the time
between the second and third or between the fourth or fifth
case, and it should read as follows:—32 subsequent cases
occurred within 48 hours, involving 30 families in 29 of
which there were only two cases, and in one of which there
were four cases in all. It shews 251 secondary cases and 185
of these, or 73.7 per cent. occurred after four days from the
initial outbreak in the family.
Table No. 37 which follows, compares the incidence of
diphtheria amongst different sized families and for purposes
of comparison the total families, as enumerated at the Census,
has been used. In the comparison in the second half of the
table it will be noted that simultaneous attacks, i.e., occurring
within 48 hours, have been excluded, simultaneous cases