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66
[1909
SMALL POX.
No death from Small Pox was registered during the year.
MEASLES.
One hundred and ninety-seven deaths from measles were registered, as
compared with a corrected average of 186 per annum during the preceding 24
years, and an average of 143, or an increase of 54, as compared with the average
of the preceding 10 years. The return was the highest that has obtained since
1898, when 325 deaths were registered, and, with the exception of that of 1887,
was the highest that has been known in the Borough since 1851.
The epidemic began in the fourth quarter of 1908, and was continued into
the first quarter of 1909, when 89 deaths were registered, and only came to a
close towards the end of the second quarter, when 94 occurred. In the
succeeding third and fourth quarters there was a large decrease for only 10 and
4 deaths were respectively registered. As usual, the deaths from this disease
were complicated with other ailments, especially with pneumonia, which was
certified as a secondary cause in 159 instances, while bronchitis was certified
in 21. Thus in 180 out of 197 deaths, inflammatory diseases of the lungs
were contributory to the fatal results. It has been pointed out many times in
these reports that it invariably happens that measles is complicated with
these affections, and that there can be no doubt that they arise among
the poor in nine cases out of ten through want of care, ignorance, or good
nursing. In Table V. in the appendix it will be seen that no less than 31
deaths occurred among infants between 3 and 12 months old and that 21 of
these deaths took place between their 9th and 12th month. Of the remaining
deaths, 156 befell between the ages of 1 and 5 years, and 10 between the ages
of 5 and 10 years.
Measles seems to have been very prevalent in the neighbouring boroughs of
Finsbury, Shoreditch and St. Pancras, and, as in Islington, its incidence was
greatest in the first and second quarters, and, as was also the case in Islington,
the epidemic seems to have started in the fourth quarter of the preceding year,
for a reference to Table XLI. shows that the death-rate for the first three months
of the year was 1.27 in St. Pancras, 1.57 in Shoreditch, 101 in Islington, and
0.93 in Finsbury. In St. Pancras, however, it commenced to decline during
the second quarter, while in Finsbury, Shoreditch and Islington it
increased; indeed the increase in Shoreditch was very marked, the death-rate
having risen from 1.57 to 2.41 per 1,000. These returns indicate that in the north
of London measles was very rife for a considerable portion of the year and that