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
Battersea 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Battersea Borough]
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44
Deaths from Zymotic Diseases.
The principal zymotic diseases are smallpox, measles,
scarlet fever, diphtheria (including membranous croup),
whooping cough, enteric fever, and diarrhœa.
The deaths from these causes in 1920 numbered 188, as
compared with 95 in 1919, an increase of 98 per cent. The
zymotic death-rate increased from .60 in 1919 to 1.13 in 1920.
The mean death-rate from each of the principal zymotic diseases for the ten years 1900-1909 and for the ten years 1910-1919 are compared with the corresponding rates for 1919 and 1920 in the following table:—
| Disease. | Mean Death-rate per 1000 population. | Death-rate per 1000 population. | Increase ( + )or decrease (- ) dur-ing 1920, over | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 09. | 1910-19. | 1919. | 1920. | Previous year. | Precdng 10 years. | |
| Small Pox | .01 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Measles | .46 | .43 | .11 | .27 | + .16 | - .16 |
| Scarlet Fever | .08 | .04 | .02 | .04 | + .02 | - |
| Diphtheria | .12 | .12 | .13 | .22 | + .09 | + .10 |
| Whooping Cough | .37 | .23 | .04 | .20 | + .16 | - .03 |
| Enteric Fever | .06 | .02 | .02 | .01 | - .01 | - .01 |
| Diarrhœa and Enteritis | .66 | .37 | .28 | .39 | + .11 | + .02 |
| Total death-rate from above diseases | 1.76 | 1.21 | .60 | 1.13 | + .53 | - .08 |
It will be seen that, notwithstanding that the rate from
the seven diseases is nearly double that of the preceding year,
there is still a considerable decrease (6.6 per cent.) compared
with the previous ten years. It is also worthy of note
that the mean death-rate during the latter period compares
very favourably with that for the ten years 1900-1909.