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 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
39
It will be seen from the foregoing table that in the period 1903-7 the highest whoopingcough
death-rate obtained in Shoreditch (0.62), and the lowest in Hampstead (0.12); in the year 1908
Poplar (0.42) had the highest death-rate and Kensington (0.04) the lowest. The whooping-cough deathrates
in each of the four quarters of the year 1908 were as follows: first quarter, 033; second
quarter, 0.28 ; third quarter, 0.13; and fourth quarter, 0.07 per 1,000 persons living.
The following table shows that when the London sanitary districts are grouped according to
the proportion of the population living more than two in a room, in tenements of less than five
rooms, the incidence of whooping-cough mortality progressively increases from the least to the most
overcrowded groups of districts.
| Proportion of overcrowding in groups of sanitary areas. | Whooping cough death-rates at ages 0-5 per 1,000 living. 1901-8. |
|---|---|
| Under 7.5 per cent. | 2.29 |
| 7.5 to 12.5 per cent. | 2.75 |
| 12.5 to 20.0 per cent. | 2.91 |
| 20.0 to 27.5 per cent. | 3.18 |
| Over 27.5 per cent. | 3.31 |
As in the case of measles some of the annual reports show the number of cases of whooping-cough which became known to the medical officers of health in 1908, and the following figures are thus supplied:—
| Sanitary area. | No. of cases. | Sanitary area. | No. of cases. | Sanitary area. | No. of cases. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paddington | 170 | Islington | 385 | Lambeth | 311 |
| Kensington | 44 | Hackney | 357 | Battersea | 302 |
| Hammersmith | 156 | Finsbury | 160 | Wandsworth | 612 |
| Chelsea | 78 | Shoreditch | 1532 | Lewisham | 416 |
| Westminster | 62 | Bermondsey | 179 | Woolwich | 174 |
Typhus.
There were no deaths from typhus registered in the Administrative County of London during
the year 1908.
The death-rates from this disease in successive periods have been as follows :—
| Period. | Death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1871-80 | .055 | ||
| 1881-90 | .008 | ||
| 1891-1900 | .0013 | ||
| 1901 | .0013 | ||
| 1902 | .000 3 | ||
| 1903 | .0013 | ||
| 1904 | — | ||
| 1905 | — | ||
| 1906 | — | ||
| 1907 | — | ||
| 1908 | — |
In this table .000 indicates that the deaths were too few to give a rate of .0005 ; where — is inserted
no death occurred.
Only two cases of typhus are known to have occurred during 1908. The patients were a school
boy, aged 14, and his sister, a few years older, employed as a tailoress, both resident in Fieldgate-mansions,
Whitechapel. They were attacked about the same time, and the source of their infection was
unknown. They were both removed to the Eastern Hospital, where they recovered.
The death-rate in each period since 1868 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period 1869-1908
is shown in diagram XVI.
1 See footnote (1). page 18. 2Excluded from school on account of whooping-cough infection.
3See footnote (1),page 8.
21322 F 2