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 1899
Forty-fourth annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Parish of St. Mary, Islington
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104
1899]
Influenza is nevertheless a serious disease, and it reduces the
patient to such a state that, when it has left him, he is so exhausted
that diseases of the nervous system, of the circulatory system
and of the respiratory system frequently fatally supervene.
Diseases of these classes are its usual successors, and the inflated
mortality returns from them when influenza is prevalent may very
rightly be ascribed to it, in as much as it was the primary
disease, although possibly it may have escaped the notice of the
patient and of his friends.
This was proved as regards the last outbreak of influenza in Islington by the following figures, the first column of which gives the average for the preceding five fourth quarters.
| Average 4th Quarter 1894-98. | 4th Quarter. 1899. | Excess. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disease of Nervous System | 132 | ||
| „ Circulatory System | 107 | 54 | |
| ,, Respiratory System | 294 | ||
| 533 |
There was an excess in the fourth quarter, during which time
influenza was prevalent, of 8 deaths from nervous diseases, of 54
from diseases of the circulatory system, and of 186 from diseases
of the respiratory system. It is more than probable that a very
large part of this very great excess in the number of deaths from
these diseases was due to influenza, and consequently the total of 45
which the mortality returns ascribe to it is very much understated.