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
East Ham 1950
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for East Ham]
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23
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
The quarterly returns to the Registrar-General were as follows :-
| Disease | Qtr. ending 31/3/50 | Qtr. ending 30/6/50 | Qtr. ending 30/9/50 | Qtr. ending 31/12/50 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Fever | 111 | 74 | 47 | 38 | 270 |
| Whooping Cough | 18 | 80 | 374 | 555 | 1027 |
| Acue Poliomyelitis | - | - | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| Measles | 180 | 564 | 114 | 130 | 988 |
| Diphtheria | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Pneumonia | 17 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 41 |
| Dysentery | 10 | - | - | - | 10 |
| Typhoid Fever | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Paratyphoid Fever | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Erysipelas | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 21 |
| Meningococcal Infection | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Food Poisoning | - | - | 5 | - | 5 |
| Puerperal Pyrexia | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum | - | 2 | - | - | 2 |
Of the ten oases notified and subsequently diagnosed as
poliomyelitis, 8 were paralytic and 2 non-paralytic.
It will be noted that 10 cases of dysentery were notified during
the first quarter. Of this number 9 occurred in the East Ham Memorial
Hospital.
A report on the food poisoning cases will be found on page 32.
In respect of the typhoid fever notifications, one patient arrived
from Australia a few days before case diagnosed in Hospital, another was
admitted to hospital with enteritis and the third was notified direct from
hospital.
The paratyphoid case was in hospital one month with kidney
disease and was due to be discharged when diagnosis made.
Whooping Cough and Measles followed the trend throughout the
country.
The deaths from the seven principal zymotic diseases (Smallpox,
Whooping Cough, Meales, Diphtheria, Diarrhoea, Scarlet Fever and Enteric
Fever) numbered 4, as compared with 6 for the previous year and 7 for
1948.
The zymotic death rate was 0.032 per 1,000 population as
compared with a rate of 0.049 for 1949.
No eases of smallpox were reported.
In the following table the notification rates for 1950 per
1,000 population are shewn :-