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
Islington 1902
Forty-seventh annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Borough of Islington
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55
[1902
DIPHTHERIA.
Diphtheria was responsible for 104 deaths, which are equal to a deathrate
of 0.30 per 1,000 inhabitants. This return is 40 less than the corrected
average for the preceding seventeen years.
The death-rate is exactly the same as that for the Encircling Districts,
which in London was 0.25 per 1,000, and in the 76 Great Towns 0.26, and in
the 103 Other Large Towns 0.24 per 1,000.
The deaths were distributed in the sub-registration districts as follows:
Tufnell 17, Upper Holloway 8, Tollington 10, Lower Holloway 18,
Highbury 20, Barnsbury 14, and South East Islington 17.
For the last few years there have not been so many deaths formerly, as the fourth column of the following statement demonstrates.
| Years. | Cases. | Attack Rates. | Deaths. | Death Rates. | Fatality Deaths per 100 Cases. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1892 | 738 | 2.28 | 170 | 0.53 | 23.0 |
| 1893 | 885 | 2.70 | 200 | 0.6l | 22.6 |
| 1894 | 867 | 2.62 | 218 | 0.66 | 25.1 |
| 1895 | 582 | 1.74 | 144 | 0.43 | 24.7 |
| 1896 | 1091 | 3.23 | 257 | 0.76 | 23.5 |
| 1897 | 729 | 2.17 | 131 | 0.39 | 18.0 |
| 1898 | 544 | 1.62 | 93 | 0.27 | 17.1 |
| 1899 | 705 | 2.10 | 128 | 0.38 | 18.2 |
| 1900 | 633 | 1.89 | 106 | 0.32 | 16.7 |
| 1901 | 911 | 2.72 | 134 | 0.40 | 14.7 |
| Corrected Mean | 776 | 2.31 | 160 | 0.47 | 20.6 |
It is here noticeable that although the number of known cases has
increased during the past two years, yet the resulting deaths, that is to say
the fatality, have decreased, so that now they are fifty per cent.less than they
were so recently as 1896. In Table C. it is shown that not only was the proportion
of deaths to attacks low in the hospitals, but also among the cases treated in
their own homes. Thus out of 615 cases that had been isolated in hospitals,
69 or 11. per cent., died, while among the 263 cases that remained at
home, 35, or 13.3 per cent., died.