View report page

19
Table No. 14 will show the Improvements effected during
the same period.
INFLUENZA.
I regret to state that Influenza has been present during the
greater part of the present year (1897).
It would be impossible for me to estimate the number of
cases that have occurred (as this disease is not one of those
which has to be notified under the Public Health (London) Act,
1891), but from personal knowledge, and from information given
to me by the different Medical Practitioners in the town, it would
appear to have been most prevalent during the first, second, and
third quarters of the year.
In all there were twenty-two deaths from Influenza (as a first
cause) registered during the year as compared with thirteen in
1896, and in addition a considerable increase in the number of
deaths from diseases of the Respiratory and Circulatory organs
(viz.: Bronchitis, Pneumonia, and Heart failure), which proves
there is an influence at work which has the power of making those
diseases more fatal than at ordinary times.
Reference to Table No. 1 will show the number of deaths
from Influenza, and also from diseases of the Respiratory and
Circulatory organs.
It may be interesting to the Members of the Board to be
reminded that the first outbreak of Epidemic Influenza (since
1847) occurred in the latter part of December, 1889, and has
occurred from time to time ever since, and it would now appear
to have become general.