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57
EPIDEMIC DIARRHŒA.
During 1907 there were 66 deaths attributed to this disease,
42 of these cases being infants under one year of age. This
gives a death rate for Epidemic Diarrhoea of 0.68 per 1,000.
Years.
Finsbury Epidemic Diarrhæa,
Death Rate.
London Death Rate.
1900 1.50 0.78
1901 1.20 0.86
1902 0.81 0.53
1903 0.99 0.64
1904 1.46 1.03
1905 1.13 0.73
1906 1.48 0.93
1907 0.68 0.32
It has already been shown that 368 children died in infancy in
Finsbury in 1907, of which number 42 (or 11.4 per cent.) died
of this disease. In 1906 there were 109 infant deaths thus caused.
It will be convenient to consider this disease in relation to age
incidence, season, methods of feeding, occupation of the mother
and housing conditions.
Ago Incidence at Death—Of the 42 deaths of infants
under one year, 12 occurred in infants under three months, 20
in the second three months, and 10 in the last six months of the
first year. The distribution was therefore highly characteristic
of the disease. The Registrar-General's returns show that this
disease, as a rule, has the heaviest incidence of fatality in the
second and third trimesters, and declines subsequently. The
Finsbury figures show the same feature. Under three months
the fatality is low. It is at the weaning period that it is high,
which clearly suggests that it is mainly caused by food.