London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Southall-Norwood 1936

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall]

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The following table shows the age distribution of the cancer deaths :—

Table No. 43.

Ages at Death in Cancer Cases.

Age
0-1515-3030-4040-5050-6060-7070-8080+
Male2749
Female65874
Total81212164

Special Infectious Diseases.
Smallpox.
No patients with smallpox or contacts of cases of smallpox were notified
to the Department during the year. No work was done under the Public Health
(Small-pox prevention) Regulations, 1917.
Scarlet Fever.
The number of notifications received during the year was 205 as
compared with 122 for the previous year.
Of these, 186 were removed to the Isolation Hospital.
Infection appears to have been mainly due to case-to-case contact.
Most of the cases were of a very mild character. In some cases the rash was
of fleeting duration ; in other cases there were very few signs in the throat.
Towards the end of the year a new drug came into prominence in the
treatment of diseases caused by the haemolytic streptococci. The drug, namely,
Prontosil, or to give it its correct chemical name, para-aminophenylsulphonamide,
had been tried out mainly in cases of puerperal fever and in
some of these cases it appears to have quite a spectacular effect. It also
undoubtedly affects the course of the disease in many cases of scarlet fever and
should prove a very useful adjuvant in treatment. A few cases in the hospital
were treated with this drug at the end of the year.
There was one death from scarlet fever during the year, in a child treated
at home and who developed heart complications and rheumatism.
Diphtheria.
There were 80 cases of diphtheria notified as compared with 67 in 1935.
All but one of these were removed to the Isolation Hospital. There was one
death from diphtheria of residents in the district during the vear.
61