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
Fulham 1898
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year ending December 31st, 1898
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20
DIARRHŒA.
The deaths ascribed to Diarrhœa numbered 182, the mortality
being higher than in any recent year, as was also the case in the County
of London. All but 8 of the deaths were of children under 5 years of
age, the great majority of these, viz., 150, being infants under 1 year.
In addition to these, the majority of the deaths of infants, 65 in number,
ascribed to Gastro Enteritis or Gastro Enteric Catarrh, were of the same
nature, and it is certainly advisable that all these deaths should be
entered under the head of Diarrhœa for comparative purposes; for,
as it is, owing to the want of uniformity in classification, the statistics
of deaths from Diarrhœa and consequently the zymotic death-rate in
different localities are misleading, and useless for comparison.
In Fulham Diarrhœa caused a mortality equal to a rate of 1 .45
per 1,000, which was higher than that of any of the London Sanitary
Districts excepting Newington, St. Luke, Limehouse, Shoreditch and
St. George, Southwark.
In the 33 Great English Towns the mortality was equal to a rate
of 1.22 per 1,000, varying from 0.49 in Swansea, 0.64 in Halifax and
0.76 in Oldham to 1.89 in Sheffield, 1.95 in Wolverhampton, 2.05 in
Preston and 2.16 in Salford.
The following table gives the Diarrhœal death-rate of Fulham, London, and the adjoining Parishes during the last 12 years:—
| 1885- 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulham | 1.05 | 0.94 | 1.30 | 0.53 | 1.18 | 1.15 | 1.21 | 1.45 |
| Kensington | 0.51 | 0.41 | 0.60 | 0.33 | 0.68 | 0.35 | 0.70 | 0.64 |
| Hammersmith | 1.05 | 0.70 | 0.79 | 0.46 | 0.79 | 0.80 | 1.20 | 1.12 |
| Chelsea | 0.77 | 0.77 | 0.76 | 0.34 | 0.82 | 0.67 | 1.03 | 0.77 |
| London | 0.59 | 0.60 | 0.80 | 0.41 | 0.82 | 0.71 | 0.92 | 0.97 |
INFLUENZA.
Twenty-four deaths were directly attributed to Influenza as compared
with 23, 13, 66, 13 and 19 in the five preceding years.
ZOOGENOUS DISEASES.
One death was ascribed to Glanders; that of a man who had been
employed in some stables in Bagley's Lane, where a pony had been
destroyed on account of that disease.