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
Shoreditch 1900
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
This page requires JavaScript
The numbers of cases and the deaths amongst males and females in the Borough and its four registration sub-districts are as follows :
| Sub-District. | DIPHTHERIA. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases Certified. | Fatal Cases. | |||||
| Male. | Female. | Total. | Male. | Female | Total. | |
| Shoreditch South | 26 | 34 | 60 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Hoxton New Town | 48 | 46 | 94 | 11 | 7 | 18 |
| Hoxton Old Town | 20 | 31 | 51 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Haggerston | 73 | 75 | 148 | 9 | 11 | 20 |
| Total for the whole Borough | 167 | 186 | 353 | 30 | 24 | 54 |
The cases certified were at the rate of slightly under 3 per 1,000 inhabitants. The
cases removed to hospital for treatment numbered 305, or just over 86 per cent. of the
cases certified, as compared with 80 per cent. in 1899, 77.2 per cent. in 1898, 67 in
1897 and 55.6 in 1896. The number of cases of diphtheria certified in the Metropolis
was 11,788 and the attack-rate was 2.5 per 1,000 inhabitants; the deaths in the
Metropolis from diphtheria numbered 1,558, and the death-rate due to this cause was
0.34 per 1,000 population.
During the year, enquiries were made as to the circumstances connected with 297 of the cases of diphtheria certified, and the distribution of the cases amongst males and females at certain age periods was as follows:—
| Age Period. | Male. | Female. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 7 | 11 | |
| From 1 to 2 years | 11 | 27 | |
| ,, 2 ,, 3 „ | 14 | 18 | 32 |
| ,, 3 ,, 4 ,, | 21 | 17 | 38 |
| ,, 4 „ 5,, | 20 | 20 | 40 |
| ,, 5,, 10,, | 39 | 60 | 99 |
| ,, 10,, 13 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
| Over 13 years | 19 | 17 | 36 |
| Total | 142 | 155 | 297 |
In 153 of the above cases the patients were school-going children, and in 132
instances had been attending school within one week of the onset of symptoms. In
100 of the cases, although the patients themselves had not been attending school, other
children, members of the patients' families or dwelling under the same roof, were
attending school. In some cases there were reasons for believing that the patients
must have been attending school whilst suffering from diphtheria before the nature of
the illness was recognised. In 180 of the cases the houses in which the patients dwelt
were in a satisfactory condition so far as the sanitary arrangements were concerned, in