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
Islington 1907
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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157
[1907
between the first and third periods, which must be looked on as a very great achievement,mainly effected by the isolation, nursing and treatment of patients in hospital.
| Quinquennial periods. | Cases. | Deaths. | No. of cases admitted to M.A.B. hospitals. | Per cent, of cases admitted to M.A.B. hospitals. | Per cent, of deaths to cases. | Attack rates, i.e., cases per 1,000 of the population. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1891-1895 | 8,502 | 332 | 3,534 | 42 | 3.9 | 5.20 |
| 1896-1900 | 7,512 | 201 | 4,660 | 62 | 2.7 | 4.46 |
| 1901-1905 | 5,867 | 166 | 4,612 | 79 | 2.8 | 3.46 |
13. In the two preceding sections I have dealt with the figures in quinquennial
periods from 1891 because there were no particulars available as to the cases
occurring in Islington and in London prior to that period. I would, however, like
to point out that the decline in the fatality among the cases treated at the Metropolitan
Asylums Board's Hospitals during the years 1875.1906 from 13.7 to 2.9 per
cent., or a decrease of 78.8 per cent. in the rate, appears to me to indicate not only
that the type of the disease may have changed, but that such change has been
influenced by the isolation in hospital of the most virulent cases. Indeed this
seems to be so, for one rarely or never now meets with those anginose or
malignant types which within my own experience were quite common. Hence it
is not unfair to infer, it seems to me, that hospital isolation may have been to a
large extent the cause of the very considerable decrease in the number of these
cases; and if this be so, then the hospitals undoubtedly have effected a great good,
and are worth the money that has been expended on them.
14. In London in the same period, that is since 1875, the annual death.rate
from this disease fell from 1,056 per million of the population to 117, or a decrease
of 88.9 per cent., a fact which seems also to support the inference that the type
of disease is not so malignant as formerly.
Another circumstance is that since 1894, when the admissions into hospital
began to become really formidable, that is to say when they reached over 60 per
cent. of the known cases, down to now when they amount to 89.5 per cent., the
death.rate from Scarlet Fever has concurrently, though irregularly, fallen, from
which one may judge the cause by the effect.
Year.
Percentage of
Admissions to Hospitals
to Notifications.
Death.rate
per million
Inhabitants.
1896
62.9
207
1897
66.8
176
1898
73.9
130
1899
73.9
89
1900
75.70
8l
1901
81.8
128
1902
80.3
121
1903
83.8
77
1904
84.5
79
1905
88.6
117
1906
88.5
113
15. The number of cases now removed to hospital is so large that it is
impossible to imagine or, indeed, believe that isolation of Scarlet Fever can be useless,
more especially when it is recollected that its infection is so persistent and
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