London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1905
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
35
Diphtheria.
The cases of diphtheria (including membranous croup) notified in the administrative county of
London in 1905 (52 weeks) numbered 6,482, compared with 7,219 in 1904. The number of deaths
registered from this cause in 1905 was 546. compared with 723 in 1904.
The diphtheria case.rates, death.rates, and case mortality in 1905, and preceding periods, are shown in the following table:—
| Period. | Death.rate per 1,000 persons living. | Case.rate per 1,000 persons living. | Case mortality per cent. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1861-70 | 0.18 | _2 | _2 |
| 1871-80 | 0.12 | - | _2 |
| 1881-90 | 0.26 | _2 | _2 |
| 1891-1900 | 0.491 | 2.6 | 19.0 |
| 1901 | 0.291 | 2.7 | 10.9 |
| 1902 | 0.251 | 23 | 10.8 |
| 1903 | 0.161 | 1.7 | 9.6 |
| 1904 | 0.161 | 1.6 | 10.0 |
| 1905 | 0.121 | 1.4 | 8.4 |
The death-rate in each year since 1858 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period 18591905
is shown for diphtheria and also for diphtheria and croup combined in diagram XI.
The monthly case-rate and case-mortality in each of the years 1891-1905 in relation to the mean
of the period is shown in diagram XIII.
If the London diphtheria death-rate be compared with the death-rates of the following large English
towns, it will be seen that in the decennium 1895-1904 the London rate exceeded the rates of all these
towns, except Sheffield, West Ham, and Leicester, while in 1905 it was lower than the rate of any except
Leeds and Leicester.
| Towns. | 1895-1904. | 1905. | Towns. | 1895-1904. | 1905. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 0.373 | 0.123 | West Ham | 0.56 | 0.26 |
| Liverpool | 0.25 | 0.21 | Bradford | 0.17 | 0.28 |
| Manchester | 0.18 | 0.20 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 0.17 | 0.19 |
| Birmingham | 0.28 | 0.17 | Hull | 0.19 | 0.30 |
| Leeds | 0.33 | 0.10 | Nottingham | 0.13 | 0.19 |
| Sheffield | 0.43 | 0.13 | Salford | 0.34 | 0.36 |
| Bristol | 0.26 | 0.16 | Leicester | 0.49 | 0.05 |
The following table shows that the London diphtheria death-rate was in the decennium 1895-1904
higher than that of any of the undermentioned foreign towns, except Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and
New York, and in 1905 was exceeded by the rates of Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna, and
New York :—
| Towns. | 1895-1904. | 1905. | Towns. | 1895-1904. | 1905. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | 0.84 | 0.50 | |||
| Paris | 0.16 | 0.07 | Berlin | 0.27 | 0.15 |
| Brussels | 0.12 | 0.08 | Vienna | 0.29 | 0.24 |
| Amsterdam | 0.14 | 0.10 | Rome | 0.09 | 0.09 |
| Copenhagen | 0.16 | 0.07 | New York | 0.58 | 0.38 |
| Stockholm | 0.38 | 0.26 |
The following table shows the diphtheria cases, deaths, case-rates, and death-rates for the year
1905, the case-rates for the decennium 1895-1904, and the death-rates for the period 1901-4, in the
several sanitary districts c—
1 See footnote (1), page 9.
2 The Infectious Desease (Notification) Act came into force in 1889.
3 See footnote (2J, page 9.
11470
E 2