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 1966
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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94
Consequently, it is more than probable that the 45 notifications
received by the Borough form only a proportion of those cases actually
infected. Moreover, due to its current mildness the risk lies in possible
sequelae and, consequently, it would be more logical to regard any cases of
acute tonsillitis as a potential case of scarlet fever and take precautions to
avoid possible complications.
Notification of this disease would appear to be of doubtful value at
the present, but no doubt one must always bear in mind the fact that the
virulence of a particular germ can undergo changes and the present low
grade virulence of the streptococcus could undergo reversion and be the
cause of an illness of much more serious consequence.
TUBERCULOSIS
The following table gives the age and sex distribution both of persons who were resident in the district when it was recognised that they were suffering from tuberculosis, and of those who moved into the district already suffering from the disease:—
| Primary Notification | Brought to notice other than Primary Notification | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | |||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| Under 1 | ||||||||
| 1— 4 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 5— 9 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| 10—14 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| 15—19 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| 20—24 | — | 5 | — | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | — |
| 25—34 | 3 | — | — | 2 | 7 | 4 | — | — |
| 35—44 | 5 | 1 | — | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 45—54 | 5 | 3 | — | — | 3 | — | — | 1 |
| 55—64 | 9 | — | — | — | 1 | 3 | — | — |
| 65 & over | 3 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 28 | 15 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 17 | 2 | 2 | |
Register
The Tuberculosis Register is a compilation of the names of those
persons in the district who are suffering from the disease or have recently
suffered from it. The names of the newly notified are added to it and
entries are made of those persons who have moved into the district
suffering from tuberculosis. Names are deleted on the removal of persons
from the district or on death, or recovery, an accepted standard of recovery
being a lapse of five years in the pulmonary cases and three in nonpulmonary
cases from the date the disease was arrested.