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
London County Council 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Town. | 1898-1007. | 1908. | Town. | 1898-1907. | 1908. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Ham | 0.44 | 0.17 | |||
| Liverpool | 0.24 | 0.17 | Bradford | 0.21 | 0.14 |
| Manchester | 0.19 | 0.18 | Newcastle-on-Tyne | 0.17 | 0.12 |
| Birmingham | 0.21 | 0.19 | Hull | 0.24 | 0.18 |
| Leeds | 0.32 | 0.09 | Nottingham | 0.17 | 0.ll |
| Sheffield | 0.43 | 0.08 | Salford | 038 | 0.51 |
| Bristol | 0.27 | 0.17 | Leicester | 0.43 | 0.03 |
The following table shows that in the decennium 1898-1907 the London diphtheria death-rate exceeded that of any of the undermentioned foreign towns, except Stockholm, St. Petersburg and New York, and in 1908 was higher than that of any except St. Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna, Rome and New York :—
| Town. | 1898-1907, | 1908. | Town. | 1898-1907. | 1908. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | 0.72 | 0.48 | |||
| Paris | 0.14 | 0.07 | Berlin | 0.22 | 0.27 |
| Brussels | 0.10 | 0.09 | Vienna | 0.23 | 0.17 |
| Amsterdam | 0.11 | 0.07 | Rome | 0.10 | 0.16 |
| Copenhagen | 0.12 | 0.11 | New York | 0.50 | 0.40 |
| Stockholm | 0.37 | 0.13 |
The following table shows the diphtheria cases, deaths, case-rates, and death-rates for the year
1908, the case-rates for the decennium 1898-1907, and the death-rates for the period 1903-7, in the several sanitary districts :—
| Sanitary area. | Notified Cases, 1908 (53 weeks). | Case-rate per 1,000 persons living. | Deaths, 1908. (53 weeks). | Death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898-1907. | 1903. | 1903-7. | 1908. | |||
| Paddington | 150 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 16 | 0.10 | 0.10 |
| Kensington | 238 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 27 | 0.10 | 0.15 |
| Hammersmith | 204 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 13 | 0.18 | 0.10 |
| Fulham | 400 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 32 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
| Chelsea | 141 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 12 | 0.10 | 0.16 |
| Westminster, City of | 187 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 16 | 0.07 | 0.09 |
| St. Marylebone | 119 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 14 | 0.ll | 0.11 |
| Hampstead | 64 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 5 | 0.07 | 0.05 |
| St. Pancras | 308 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 22 | 0.13 | 0.09 |
| Islington | 530 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 57 | 0.16 | |
| Stoke Newington | 65 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 1 | 0.12 | 0.02 |
| Hackney | 389 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 45 | 0.17 | 0.19 |
| Holborn | 50 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 5 | 0.11 | 0.09 |
| Finsbury | 170 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 16 | 0.16 | 0.16 |
| London, City of | 29 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 2 | 0.12 | 0.10 |
| Shoreditch | 210 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 13 | 0.16 | 0.11 |
| Bethnal Green | 278 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 28 | 0.22 | 0.21 |
| Stepney | 658 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 75 | 0.24 | 0.24 |
| Poplar | 315 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 33 | 0.31 | 0.19 |
| Southwark | 270 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 32 | 0.15 | 015 |
| Bermondsey | 252 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 23 | 0.16 | 0.18 |
| Lambeth | 345 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 45 | 0.13 | 0.14 |
| Battersea | 366 | 21 | 2.0 | 22 | 0.13 | 0.12 |
| Wandsworth | 591 | 21 | 2.0 | 37 | 0.15 | 0.13 |
| Camberwell | 398 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 41 | 0.11 | 0.14 |
| Deptford | 208 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 10 | 0.20 | 0.08 |
| Greenwich | 223 | 2.3 | 20 | 18 | 0.20 | 0.16 |
| Lewisham | 471 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 43 | 0.11 | 0.27 |
| Woolwich | 368 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 21 | 0.16 | 0.16 |
| Port of London | 5 | |||||
It will be seen from the foregoing table that in the period 1903-7 the diphtheria death-rate was
highest in Poplar (0.31) and lowest in the City of Westminster and Hampstead (0.07); in the
year 1908, Lewisham (0.27) had the highest death-rate, and Stoke Newington (0.02) the lowest. The
diphtheria death-rates in each of the four quarters of the year 1908 were as follows: first quarter, 0.20;
second quarter, 0.11; third quarter, 0.11; and fourth quarter, 0.17 per 1,000 persons living.
1 See footnote (l), page 8.
2The death-rates in this table relate to diphtheria including croup.