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
Deptford 1915
Annual report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford
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The following table shows the periodsof the year, and the localities in which deaths from Diarrhœa and Enteritis occurred, together with particulars as to sex:—
| WARDS. | QUARTERS. | YEAR. | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March. | June. | Sept. | Dec. | ||||||||||
| M | F | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | Total. | |||
| East | – | – | 2 | 1 | 23 | 22 | 5 | 6 | 30 | 29 | 59 | ||
| North | 1 | – | – | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 22 | ||
| North-West | 3 | – | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 15 | ||
| South | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| South-East | 1 | – | – | – | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 11 | ||
| South-West | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | – | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Total | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 42 | 33 | 14 | 12 | 66 | 50 | 116 | ||
The mean annual death rate per 1,000 from diarrhœal diseases
in Deptford for the past ten years was as follows:—
1906 1.26 1911 1.72
1907 0.18 1912 0.34
1908 0.70 1913 0.95
1909 0.39 1914 0.88
1910 0.68 1915 1.05
These figures must be taken with a certain amount of reservation
for the reasons stated before.
Hot weather and particularly dry weather is necessary for fatal
diarrhoea to become prevalent. Why meteorological conditions produce
such serious results cannot altogether be explained. It may
be that a hot summer lowers the-resistance of infants, and renders
them more liable to the disease. Again, it may be that hot weather
increases the number of domestic flies, and consequently the risk of
contamination of milk and other infant foods. I am inclined to the
opinion that summer diarrhoea is due to organisms derived from human
or animal filth, and that the prevalence of the complaint during hot
summers is due, first to the amount of dust prevalent during a dry
summer, and secondly to the opportunity afforded by high tempera-