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
Richmond upon Thames 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Richmond]
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From the table below it will be seen that the first nine years of childhood suffer the major incidence of the disease:
| M. | F. | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 1 year | 14 | 17 | 31 |
| 2 years | 13 | 11 | 24 |
| 3 years | 25 | 22 | 47 |
| 4 years | 18 | 21 | 39 |
| 5 — 9 years | 80 | 60 | 140 |
| 10 —14 years | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| IS — 24 years | 2 | — | 2 |
| 25 + | 1 | — | 1 |
| Total | 165 | 141 | 306 |
Vaccination and Immunisation (see page 30).
Dysentery.
All eleven cases notified were of bacillary dysentery. As a precautionary measure
one person was excluded from her normal employment.
Food Poisoning.
There was one family outbreak recorded during the year involving two people, one
of whom sufFered severe symptoms while the other had no symptoms at all.
The cause of the outbreak was an omelette containing Garlic sausage, a sample of
which, upon analysis, produced S.Typhimurium.
No stocks of the particular batch of this sausage were left at either the retailer or
wholesaler but specimens taken from the wholesaler of other batches proved negative
and it is thought likely that the sausage may have been contaminated by either of the
two persons concerned.
Previous years figures are as follows : —
| 1962 | 14 | 1967 | 3 |
| 1963 | 6 | 1968 | 30 |
| 1964 | 8 | 1969 | 22 |
| 1965 | 6 | 1970 | 11 |
| 1966 | _ |
Meningitis.
Eight cases were notified during the year, all of whom were admitted to hospital.
The types notified were — viral (4), pneumococcal, mumps, meningococcal septicaemia
and lymphocytic.
One child, aged 17 months, who attended one of the Council's Day Nurseries, died
in hospital and as a precautionary measure throat swabs were taken from all children
attending the Nursery. All the throat swabs were clear and it is thought that this was
an isolated case and the infection was not acquired from or passed into the Nursery.
Infective Jaundice.
The arrangements made with the medical research team at the West and South
Middlesex Hospitals in December, 1970 to assist in the pilot survey of the epidemiological
aspects of the disease continued throughout the year.
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