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
Hackney 1939
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]
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29
Diphtheria Immunisation.—The active immunisation of
persons against diphtheria has been available for Hackney residents
since January, 1938. Weekly sessions are held at two clinics and
the Council pays the fees of 38 local medical practitioners who
administer immunising injections under the Council scheme. These
practitioners referred 86 patients to the clinics for Schick testing
during 1939; 18 of these patients were found to be naturally immune
and the remaining 68 returned to their doctors for immunising
injections.
The following table gives particulars of the work carried out under the scheme since 1928 :—
| Year. | No. of Now Cases. | Schick Tested. | Commenced treatment without Schick Test. | Naturally Immune. | Immunised. | Dis-continued treatment and struck off Register. | No. under treatment at end of year. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre- School Age. | School Age. | Adults. | Pre-School Age. | School Age. | Adults | ||||||
| 1928 to | |||||||||||
| 1938 | 10431 | 1972 | 5286 | 212 | 2951 | 1526 | 3740 | 3307 | 48 | 1138 | 667 |
| 1939 | 1029 | 139 | 356 | 5 | 539 | 87 | 426 | 174 | - | 180 | 826 |
A statement by the Medical Officer of the Clinic follows:—
"The Diphtheria Immunisation Clinics had to be closed down at the
commencement of the war and were not re-opened until January, 1940.
The record therefore applies only to eight months of 1939. The number
of new cases attending during this period, 1,029, compares favourably
with the 1,481 new cases treated in 1938.
The Public Health Department continued to inform the public of the
value of diphtheria immunisation by leaflets to children at schools and
various other centres and by the first-birthday-wish postcards.
The panel of medical practitioners co-operating with the Clinics has
now grown to 38. The Richmond Road Clinic still continues to be a useful
adjunct to the main Clinic at Lower Clapton Road, being responsible for
359 of the total figure for the eight months.
During the eight months of work, four cases of suspected diphtheria in
immunised children were removed to hospital, but on thorough investigation
all four were proved to be not diphtheria but streptococcal tonsillitis or
Vincent's angina, which again proves the efficacy of immunisation.
No local or general reaction from the injections has been reported,
and I still attribute that to the smaller doses which are given to children
of 8—10 years as their first injection and to the desensitising dose which
is given to children over 11 years of age.
I should like to state that since 1928, when the Clinic was opened,
Toxoid Antitoxin Mixture has been used throughout. It is now very
interesting to report that during these 11 years, 97.7 per cent, of children
were negative after three immunising injections on Schick testing them
four months after the last injection."