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
Tottenham 1947
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tottenham]
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Diphtheria Notifications and Deaths, in Relation to Immunisation.
| Notifications. | Deaths. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at date of Notification. | Number of Cases Notified. | Number of cases in preceding column in which the child had completed a full course of immunisation. | Age at date of Death. | Number of Deaths. |
| Under 1 | Nil. | Nil. | Under 1 | Nil. |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Nil. |
| 2 | Nil. | Nil. | 2 | Nil. |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Nil. |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Nil. |
| 5 to 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 to 9 | Nil. |
| 10 to 14 | 5 | 2 | 10 to 14 | Nil. |
| Totals | 20 | 14 | Total | Nil. |
Whooping Cough.
There were 286 eases notified, 42 occurring under the age of
one year. Cases removed to isolation hospital totalled 22, a
substantial increase over, the figure of 10 for 1946. Two deaths
were recorded.
PREVENTION OF WHOOPING COUGH
Whooping Cough Vaccine Trials.
The special investigation referred to in my Annual Report for
1946 continued throughout the year, and Dr. Cockburn, of the
Central Public Health Laboratory, Colindale, writes:—
Whooping cough is the most; dangerous of the common infectious
diseases of childhood, and for some time now reports have been
received from the U.S.A. of the effect of vaccines in preventing or
modifying the illness. In this country, however, the efficacy of
vaccines is still unproved, the early reports having been unfavourable.
In 1946 the Medical Research Council asked the Medical
Officer of Health for Tottenham to take part in a large-scale investigation
which might lead to whooping cough becoming a
preventable disease in much the same way as diphtheria has been
controlled by immunisation. The investigation was planned in
such a way that the evidence obtained would be scientifically sound,
and although this meant that not all the children in the trials were