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 1925
Annual report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford
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131
Zymotic Enteritis.
The number of deaths from this disease in 1925 was 17, and of
these 11 occurred in children under one year of age and 1 in an infant
between one and two years of age.
With the commencement of June in each year a special lecture is
given and is repeated by the Medical Officer of Health in each Infant
Welfare Centre, drawing attention to the seriousness of summer
diarrhæa; the rapidity with which it can kill is stressed, and,
accordingly, the mothers display anxiety as to how this threat to their
babies' lives may be warded off. Flies, filth, fingers and dirt are at the
root of the whole trouble. Germs pass into the child's intestinal tract
and multiply to an enormous extent. The poisons or toxins given off
by these germs profoundly disturb the baby's system; sickness and
violent purging are followed by rapid wasting and the child sinks into
a semi or totally comatose condition. In a matter of twelve hours a
child, well to the outward eye, commences to exhibit the fearsome
train of symptoms which does so often bespeak the beginning of
the end.
Zymotic enteritis, or summer diarrhœa, is at its worst in hot, dry summers. The year 1921 was the last of the hot summers. The number of deaths for the past five years is as follows:—
| Year. | Total deaths from diarrhœa and enteritis. | Number of deaths in infants under two years. |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 65 | 55 |
| 1922 | 12 | 11 |
| 1923 | 22 | 18 |
| 1924 | 21 | 16 |
| 1925 | 17 | 12 |
Notification of zymotic enteritis is carried out in eight boroughs in
London in addition to Deptford, viz., Fulham, Finsbury, Poplar,
Southwark, Kensington, Greenwich and Woolwich.
Prevention.
The means adopted to prevent this disease are refuse removal,
street scavenging and street washing every morning in the east end of
the borough. This is the part of the borough usually the hardest hit
by summer diarrhoea. Many of the houses are of the old tenement
type, and a number are overcrowded. A number of the tenants are