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

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Poplar 1894

Report on the sanitary condition of the parishes of Poplar and Bromley within the Poplar District with vital statistics

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It is stated that females suffer from diphtheria more than males, and in support of this statement having analysed the notifications received during 1894, I give the following figures:—

Males.Females.
South Poplar1533
North Poplar4647
South Bromley5158
North Bromley7494
Totals186232

Possibly the cause of females suffering more than males is due to
little girls and women nursing children. This has been pointed out
by Dr. Thome, the Medical Officer of the Local Government
Board.
As to the well.known fact that it is to the influence of school
attendance that we must look for the main cause of the increase in
diphtheria notifications, Dr. Thome states:—
" In what does this influence consist? First of all it brings together
the most susceptible members of the community which are
peculiarly favourable to this kind of infection. The children are
close to each other, and in saying or intoning their lessons they have
facility for breathing into the faces and mouths of their neighbours.
Consequently any child : with a trace of diphtheria can easily infect
other susceptible children. The Education Department requires so
much floor space per child, but if you have ever been to an infant's
school, for example, you will have observed that of available floor
space some two.thirds are often monopolised by the teacher it being
necessary to aggregate the children at one end of the room. The
greater the want of ventilation, the greater the risk. Then too,
children of young age are very fond of passing sweets from mouth to
mouth, and of drinking out of the same unwashed cup, thereby
offering every opportunity for serial infection."