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
Harrow 1953
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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culture and Fisheries as a precaution against the spread of psittacosis,
ornithosis and foul pest amongst poultry.
In August a patient was admitted to hospital suffering from psittacosis.
Although the diagnosis was confirmed by laboratory findings,
neither the patient nor those living in the house had had any contact
with parrots or with any other birds liable to convey this infection.
Weil's Disease
Weil's disease or leptospiral jaundice is a complaint which results
from an infection by an organism which is common in rats, being harboured
in their kidneys and excreted in the urine. Infection of the
human most commonly results from contact of the skin, usually abraded
or mucous membrane with water polluted with the urine of infected rats.
The disease then shows a selection for certain groups of worker which
includes those working in sewers, agricultural workers and miners.
A case of this infection was learned of this year. Although the
patient was engaged in work on the maintenance of streams, these were
in fact not rat infested.
The following table sets out the age and sex distribution of the patients who were notified in this district for the first time in 1953.
| Primary Notification | Brought to notice other than on a Form "A" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | |||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| — | ||||||||
| — | — | |||||||
| — | — | — | ||||||
| — | — | |||||||
| — | ||||||||
The total number of new cases learned of during the year was 357.
The notifications for the four years 1949 onwards were 439, 370, 358 and
271.
Of the 321 pulmonary cases 75 were known to be suffering from the
disease before they moved into the district. Four men and one woman
were recognised to be suffering from the disease while they were serving
in the Forces.