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
Carshalton 1944
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
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Scarlet Fever.
Following a year of unusually high prevalence scarlet fever cases
fell in 1944 to one-third of the number in 1943. Residents who
succumbed to this infection numbered 104 out of a total of 159 cases.
The incidence rate was therefore : —
All cases 3.04 per 1,000 population.
Residents 1.90 per 1,000 population.
Half the resident cases were schoolchildren, one-third were under
five years of age and the remainder over school age. Ninety-one per
cent, were admitted to hospital and all recovered from what was
generally a mild infection. In 1943 no less than 20 per cent. of
these cases were nursed at home and the increased proportion admitted
to isolation' hospital during the year under review is mainly
the result of the shortage of housing accommodation with a
corresponding general lack of isolation facilities in domestic homes.
There was one " return " case.
TABLE 15.
SCARLET FEVER—WARD INCIDENCE AND MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION, 1944.
(Excluding hospital patients non-resident in Carshalton.)
| 1944. | Ward. | Total. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Helier North. | St. Helier South. | St. Helier West. | North-East. | North-West. | Central. | South-East. | South-West. | ||
| January | 3 | — | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| February | 2 | — | 2 | — | — | 1 | 3 | — | 8 |
| March | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | — | 4 | — | 23 |
| April | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | 5 | 1 | 14 |
| May | 1 | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | 5 |
| June | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 |
| July | — | — | 1 | 4 | — | — | — | — | 5 |
| August | — | — | — | I | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| September | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 3 |
| October | 1 | 2 | 9 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 6 |
| November | 2 | — | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| December | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Totals | 17 | 8 | 23 | 20 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 6 | 104 |
| Monthly Mean | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 8.6 |
| Case rate per 1,000 population | 2.14 | 1.26 | 3.06 | 2.44 | 1.66 | 0.73 | 2.28 | 1.01 | 1.90 |