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
Wandsworth 1866
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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24
It is not however very satisfactory to find that the
deaths from Zymotic diseases, amongst the class I am
speaking of, more than double those of the other classes
combined, and this in the proportion of 72 to 24 in the
register of the past year. The cause of this disparity of
numbers must be obvious enough, but it is to be regretted
notwithstanding, and should certainly urge us to increased
exertions in the promotion of all those sanitary proceedings
that are likely, in the slightest degree, to improve the
moral and social status of the industrious poor.
| Years. | 1856 | 1857 | 1858 | 1859 | 1860 | 1861 | 1862 | 1863 | 1864 | 1865 | 1866 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small-pox. | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Measles | 14 | 2 | 14 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 18 |
| Scarlatina. | 9 | 8 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 22 | 13 | 28 | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| Diphtheria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Whooping-cough | 4 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 21 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 14 |
| Typhus | 4 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 11 | 16 |
| Diarrhœa | 4 | 27 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 11 | 20 | 17* |
| Totals | 36 | 57 | 80 | 66 | 91 | 76 | 52 | 95 | 63 | 75 | 82 |
| * The 17 deaths here recorded comprehend the 4 deaths from Cholera that took place during the year. | |||||||||||
It will be seen that Small-pox still holds a prominent
place, in respect to numbers, in this table, and that 10
deaths are recorded as being due to this disease, which is
three more than were recorded in the register of 1865. The
deaths from Measles have also increased from 7 to 18,