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
Southall 1951
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall]
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The Regional Officer of the Ministry of National Insurance kindly arranged for regular figures of local sickness
certificates to be supplied for a time, and
| Year | No. of Cases | Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| 1941 | 575 | - |
| 1942 | 333 | — |
| 1943 | 293 | 2 |
| 1944 | 367 | - |
| 1945 | 500 | 1 |
| 1946 | 21 | - |
| 1947 | 334 | — |
| 1948 | 825 | 1 |
| 1949 | 194 | — |
| 1950 | 701 | — |
| 1951 | 1,129 | — |
Other notifiable diseases showing an increase were pneumonia and puerperal pyrexia.
There was no increase in the incidence of Scarlet Fever and no case of diphtheria.
Poliomyelitis
Eleven notifications were received of acute anterior poliomyelitis. Two of these
were not confirmed as poliomyelitis, eight cases were non-paralytic, had a very short stay
in hospital, and were discharged completely recovered. The remaining case, a boy aged 5
years, was a case of paralytic poliomyelitis and was discharged from hospital with a weakness
not amounting to paralysis of both legs. He continued to have physio-therapy treatment
and is now walking almost normally.
The information now available concerning the cases left with residual paralysis in the years 1949 and 1950 is as follows:—
| 1950 : | ||
| Case A. | Paralysis of left leg | Adult male. At the end of the year still showing paralysis of the left leg—able to get about in a walking calliper with sticks but still unable to resume work. |
| Case B. | Paralysis of both legs | Boy now aged 4 years. Made good progress at end of the year. Still a slight weakness of the leg causing him little trouble. |
| Case C. | Paralysis in arms, legs, dorsal, lumbar and abdominal muscles | Girl now aged 16 years. Practically no improvement during the year, complete paralysis of legs and feet. |
| Case D. | Paralysis of right leg, dorsal, lumbar and abdominal muscles | At end of the year had made almost a full recovery after her paralysis but with some residual weakness remaining in the back and legs, almost no restriction of movements at slow speed. |
| 1949: | ||
| Of two cases remaining with residual paralysis reported last year, at the end of 1951 the conditions were:— | ||
| Case B. | Anterior tibials, quadriceps, hamstrings, and abductors | Paralysis remaining, to have operative treatment. |
| Case D. | Abductors and glutei of the left leg | Recovery practically complete—only slight remaining weakness. |
Influenza
There were some signs in the early months of 1951 that influenza was likely to assume
epidemic form. Information from local practitioners and from the office of the Ministry
of National Insurance seemed to show that the incidence of sickness in the working population
was increasing abnormally during January, and that the increase was mainly in cases of
influenza of a mild type.
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