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
Shoreditch 1909
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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1905, 16.3 in 1904, 23.8 in 1903, 20.5 in 1902, 15.4 in 1901, 22.7 in 1900, 34.2 in
1899, 29.5 in 1898, 36.0 in 1897, 31.8 in 1896, 47.5 in 1895, 43.0 in 1894, and
61.0 in 1893. The case mortality amongst persons over five years of age was
4.3 per cent, of the cases certified. Deducting the cases not regarded as
diphtheria at the hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, the mortality
was 5.3 per cent. The whole of the deaths from diphtheria were of children
under the age of 10 years.
The usual enquiries were made as to the circumstances attending the occurrence of diphtheria in the Borough. With respect to 158 of the cases certified during the year, they were distributed amongst males and females at certain age periods as set out in the subjoined table:—
| Age Period. | Male. | Female. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| From 1 to 2 years | 11 | 11 | 22 |
| „ 2 ,,3 ,, | 11 | 10 | 21 |
| „ 3 ,, 4 ,, | 16 | 11 | 27 |
| 4 „ 5 ,, | 16 | 4 | 20 |
| 5 ,, 10 ,, | 12 | 23 | 35 |
| „ 10 „13 „ | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| Over 13 years | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Total | 78 | 80 | 158 |
In 58 of the cases the patients were children attending school, and in
39 of these they were at school within a week of being certified as having
the disease. There were instances in which the children were at school whilst
actually suffering from diphtheria before the nature of their illness was recognised.
In 91 other cases, although the patients themselves were not schoolgoing
children, there were other children in the houses who were. In 24
instances the histories showed that there had been cases of "sore throat"
amongst the inmates of the houses in which the patients resided. In 28
instances there was evidence pointing to infection from previous cases in the
Borough. In 109 instances the houses were occupied by members of more than
one family, in 29 by single families, and in 20 instances the cases occurred in
artizans' dwellings of the block type. With regard to the sanitary condition
of the dwellings, in 89 this was satisfactory, in 25 fairly so, and in 44 it was
unsatisfactory, but these figures must not be taken as an indication that a
satisfactory sanitary condition is favourable to the occurrence of diphtheria in
houses. Similar proportions have been obtained in inspecting houses in
which no diphtheria cases were notified.
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