[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham].

  • West Ham (London, England). County Borough.
Date:
[1935]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    112/210 (page 113)
    An epidemic of measles occurs in the Borough every two years with marked regularity. Most commonly it starts in November, December or January. This year the first cases appeared in December, but it was not until the end of February that the epidemic reached its height. Severe and complicated cases became numerous, and in March two of the scarlet fever wards were turned over for the treatment of measles. The epidemic subsided by the end of May. Whooping Cough was not prevalent, and only 4 cases were under treatment. Four cases of cerebro-spinal meningitis were under treatment, and one of them proved fatal. Seven other cases which had been admitted as meningitis were not suffering from the disease. The lack of accommodation did not permit the regular admis sion of cases of erysipelas and pneumonia. A few such cases, how ever, were under treatment during the year, and are referred to below. At the beginning of the year there were 234 patients in resi dence, and 1,864 were admitted during the year, making a total of 2,098 cases under treatment. Of these, 1,797 were discharged, 75 died, and 226 remained under treatment at the end of the year. The chief causes of death during the year are briefly sum marised as follows:— Scarlet Fever caused 9 deaths Diphtheria caused 37 „ Measles caused 8 „ Pneumonia caused 9 „ Meningitis (various forms) 4 „ Whooping Cough caused 1 „ Erysipelas caused 1 „ Other diseases caused 6 „ The fatality rate, calculated on all the cases admitted during the year, was 4.02 per cent. , Table I. shows the admissions and deaths for each month of the year, and in Table II. there is shown the annual admissions and deaths from the principal infectious diseases since the Hospital was opened. Scarlet Fever. During the year 835 patients, notified as suffering from scarlet fever, were admitted. The diagnosis was revised in 37 of these cases, or 4.43 per cent. of the admissions. Ninety-four patients were in residence at the beginning of the year, making a total of 892 under treatment. Of these, 817 were discharged, 9 died, and 66 remained under treatment at the end of the year. 113