View report page

8
Hygienic conditions have such an enormous influence in the reduction of
these tubercular diseases, that the death-rate from phthisis affords a rough test
of the extent to which insanitary conditions prevail.
For the prevention of consumption and allied diseases, it is necessary
that there should be good ventilation of houses and workshops, and their
sanitary construction and arrangement, so as to secure fresh air, good light,
and dry walls; no overcrowding; proper drainage of the soil; inspection of
cowsheds, dairies, and cows, so as to ensure good milk, free from the germs
of tuberculosis; inspection of animals intended for food, and adequate
supervision of them at the time of slaughter; disinfection of the sputum of
phthisical patients, and infected articles and rooms.
INFLUENZA.
The deaths referred to influenza were 18 in number, being rather more
than the same rate for London, in which there were 2156 deaths, 1570 of
which were registered between the middle of February and the end of March.
THE NOTIFICATION AND PREVENTION OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASE.
During the six months ending December 28th, 1895, there were notified
213 cases of infectious disease: the corresponding number for 1894 being
only 98. This large increase was caused principally by the epidemic of
scarlet fever, which occurred during August, September, October, and November,
there being nearly eight times the number notified during the corresponding
four months of 1894. During the same four months the number of
notifications of diphtheria was more than three times that of 1894.