London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Camberwell 1893

Thirty-eighth annual report of the Vestry...

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death-rate of St. George's is not larger than that of other
similarly circumstanced localities, and a little less than that
of London as a whole.
I do not think that on the whole St. George's suffers
more from infectious diseases than other parts of the
parish; although of course the incidence of such diseases
varies from time to time in various districts. In this connection
it is important to point out, that diseases distinctly
referrible to bad drainage have diminished largely in London
of late years, as also in our own parish; and that but few
cases of typhoid fever occur in any parts of our parish, and
not more in St. George's than elsewhere ; that during the
cholera epidemic of 1866, which prevailed (owing to local
causes) at the east end of London, there were but few cases in
the rest of London, and but few in Cambers ell, and that
again it did not prevail more in St. George's than elsewhere;
and that during the not infrequent subsequent prevalences
of the disease on the continent it has never
appeared in London except in isolated cases; and lastly
that during the last epidemic of small-pox, as also during
its threat of recurrence during the last year or two,
St. George's has not suffered so much as some other
parts of the parish. I refer to this fact, because (owing
to the existence of a good deal of small property in St.
George's, which many people think should be demolished) I
have for some years paid particular attention to the occurrence
of certain infectious diseases, with the object of satisfying
myself whether the property referred to was specially
unhealthy or not, and I have come to the conclusion it is
not. Diphtheria prevails in all parts of the parish, and by
no means specially in St. George's. At present (as I have