Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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The number of infants vaccinated, therefore, amounted to 62
per cent, of the registered births as compared with 62 per cent, in
1908, 90 per cent, in 1907, and 82 per cent, in 1906.
The increase in the proportion of unvaccinated infants is
doubtless due to the increased facilities offered to conscientious
objectors by the last amendment of the Vaccination Acts.
MEASLES.
Measles accounted for 21 deaths. As was to have been
expected, this number is considerably less than that recorded in
1908, when this disease was extremely prevalent. Though measles
is not notifiable in the borough, the relative number of children
attacked can be judged from the notifications received from the
elementary schools.
The following are the figures for 1909 and the preceding five years:—
Year. | Cases reported to Elementary Schools. | Deaths. |
---|---|---|
1904 | 1,335 | 62 |
I905 | 1,267 | 24 |
1906 | 595 | 37 |
1907 | 363 | 8 |
1908 | 2,335 | 92 |
1909 | 364 | 21 |
The number of deaths was unusually large in proportion to the
cases coming under notice, but this is in part accounted for by the fact
that the disease was prevalent in the last quarter of 1908 and the first
quarter of 1909. It is probable, therefore, that during the intervention
of the Christmas holidays many children were suffering from
the disease who were not reported to the Health Department.
The prevalence of measles was mainly confined to the first
quarter, when 15 deaths were notified, as compared with three
deaths in the second quarter, three in the third quarter, and no
deaths in the fourth quarter of the year.
Nineteen out of the twenty-one deaths occurred in small
houses. This is approximately the same proportion as was recorded
in 1908.