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
Ilford 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ilford]
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45
for it, and also means of free bacteriological diagnosis are
supplied by the Council. With regard to the taking of
swabs for purposes of diagnosis, there is one point that
should be borne in mind, and that is the delay necessarily
involved in hearing the result. Thus valuable time may be
wasted before Anti-toxin is injected, and the patient's life
imperilled. It is generally recognised now, I think, that it
is undesirable to inject Anti-toxin unnecessarily, but the risk
is as nothing compared with allowing a patient to absorb for
some time the Diphtheria Toxins, without counteracting their
action by the injection of Anti-toxin. In other words, the
risk of Anaphylaxis is small compared with the risk of the
results of untreated Diphtheria.
ENTERIC FEVER.
| Year. | Cases. | Deaths. | Rate per 1,000. | Per cent. of Cases Notified. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1911 | 10 | 4 | .05 | 40 |
| 1910 | 16 | 1 | .01 | 6.28 |
| 1909 | 7 | 1 | .01 | 14.28 |
| 1908 | 12 | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| 1907 | 10 | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| 1906 | 35 | 1 | .01 | 2.85 |
| 1905 | 22 | 4 | .06 | 18.18 |
| 1904 | 32 | 4 | .07 | 12.5 |
| 1903 | 28 | 2 | .04 | 7.14 |
| 1902 | 61 | 7 | .15 |
From the diagram on the opposite page it will be seen
how low the incidence of this disease is keeping, and if it
were possible to secure still more accuracy in diagnosis I
have no doubt the number of cases would be still further
diminished. Five of the cases, that is, one - half,
occurred in the month of September, after holidays had been
taken in various parts of the country. Of course it is extremely
difficult to trace the origin of an isolated attack after