[Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Plymouth Borough.

  • Plymouth (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Plymouth Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and debated. This free discussion can lead, 1 am sure, to nothing but ultimate good, although the spectre-phrase, to which I have already referred, namely, “ The Voluntary System/’ has done its best to side-track some of the talkers into obscurity and confusion of thought. Infectious Disease. Scarlet Fever. There has been a large amount of Scarlet Fever in Plymouth during the year. Al¬ together 1,077 cases were notified, 758 of which were treated in hospital. This number far exceeds any of the figures reached during the past five years. On the whole, during the past few years, the incidence of infectious disease in Plymouth has always been light, compared to other towns in the country ; but this past year we have shared with England and Wales a considerable increase in the amount of infectious disease. The type of Scarlet Fever, however, remains very mild, and out of 1,077 cases there were only 6 deaths. Diphtheria continues to take its toli of infant life. Out of 629 cases notified, death occurred in 21 instances. Only early treatment can prevent a child from dying of an attack of Diphtheria. Diphtheria. 1921 ig22 T923 1924 i925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Attack Rate per 1000 : County Boroughs ... 1.5 1 . 14 1 .04 1.11 1.34 1 .44 1.5 1.7 — Attack Rate per 1000 : Plymouth ... 1.32 1.01 0.8 0.94 1.48 1.52 1.97 2.17 2.45 Death Rate per 1000 : County Boroughs ... . 104 .089 .076 .068 .084 .094 .087 .091 — Death Rate per 1000 : Plymouth ... .065 .075 .05 . 114 .042 . 176 . 123 . 165 . 12 Total Cases : Plymouth ... 263 203 154 184 307 282 372 423 525 Total Deaths : Plymouth ... 13 15 11 22 8 34 23 32 26 Case Mortality : Plymouth ... 4.9% 7.3% 7.1% 11.9% 2.6% 12% 6.2% 7.5% 4.9% It is much better, and very much cheaper, to prevent a child from contracting Diphtheria than to attempt to cure a child who once has the disease. This prevention can be surely obtained by the