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
Finsbury 1903
Report on the public health of 1903
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51
86 per cent. of the total deaths of infants from diarrhoea
occurred in children living in homes of two rooms or less.
The results of the enquiry into the conditions of life of the 416 infant deaths, irrespective of cause of death, may be set out in the following table:—
| Age in months. | Human Milk. | Artificial and Condensed Milk. | Human and Artificial Milk. | Cows Milk (Bottle). | Human and Cows' Milk. | Total. | One room. | Two rooms. | Three rooms. | Four rooms. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | 108 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 21 | 176 | 57 | 85 | 30 | 4 |
| 4-6 | 28 | 15 | 16 | 21 | 13 | 93 | 33 | 47 | 13 | — |
| 7 9 | 30 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 19 | 85 | 32 | 43 | 7 | 3 |
| 10-12 | 21 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 18 | 62 | 21 | 37 | 3 | 1 |
| Totals | 187 | 48 | 53 | 57 | 71 | 416 | 143 | 212 | 53 | 8 |
From this table it will be seen that:—
187 or 44.9 per cent. of the cases were fed on
breast milk.
101 or 24.2 per cent. of the cases were fed wholly
or partly upon artificial milk.
128 or 30.8 per cent. of the cases were fed wholly
or partly on cows' milk.
It will therefore be seen that the manner of feeding in the
infants who died of epidemic diarrlura is open to more criticism
than those dying of other diseases. The percentage as to
accommodation are much the same : 143 deaths or 34 per cent,
occurred in one-roomed dwellings, and 355 in all, or 85 per cent.,
occurred in homes of two or less than two rooms.
PHTHISIS.
Following the plan adopted in previous reports, the history
of Phthisis for the past year will be dealt with under the two
heads of Voluntary Notification and Mortality.