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ANNUAL REPORT
OF
MEDICAL OFFICER.
TO THE VESTRY OF BERMONDSEY,
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,
I have the honour of submitting my Seventh Annual
Report, which comprises the Vital Statistics of the Parish
for the 52 weeks of the registration year that ended on
Saturday the 30th day of December, 1882.
The general mortality exceeded that of the three previous
years, but was just within the limit of the decennial average.
Measles prevailed throughout the year, and Whooping
Cough was very fatal during the first six months. The
severity of these diseases is chiefly felt among children under
five years of age, and as our population contains an excessive
proportion of children at that age the occurrence of any two
or more diseases of this kind in an epidemic form during the
same year causes no inconsiderable addition to our deathrate.
Last year the diseases I have mentioned caused 287
deaths, or rather more than one in every seven deaths from all
causes, and no less than one-fourth of all the deaths which took
place under five years of age. In the previous year there were
only 91 deaths from the same causes, or less than one-third of
the fatality. These diseases are not much under the control of
Sanitary Authorities, but they would be far less fatal than
they are if the importance of medical aid and careful
nursing was better appreciated by many parents. They are
infectious from a very early stage and probably are so before
the symptoms have become sufficiently developed to remove
all doubt about the nature of the complaint Hence, they are
difficult to avoid. When two or three families are living in
one house, and the house is crowded with children, anything
like proper isolation of the cases is almost impossible, and
indeed is rarely attempted. It is by no means an uncommon