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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87
[1899
SIMPLE CONTINUED FEVER.
No death was attributed to this affection, and I notice that
only one was ascribed to it in London. The fact is that when cases
which have been notified under this heading end fatally the death
is usually certified as from Enteric Fever. As a rule, when the
medical attendant notifies the case the symptoms are often obscure,
and, therefore, in order to comply with the law, he returns it as
Continued Fever, although, doubtless, long before its termination
he has arrived at a precise conclusion as to its real character.
DIARRHŒA. Since 1885 the following deaths were referred to Diarrhœa, the major portion of which occurred in the Summer months and among Infants:—
| 1885 197 deaths. | 1894 95 deaths. |
| 1886 320 „ | 1895 189 „ |
| 1887 309 „ | 1896 153 „ |
| 1888 162 „ | 1897 174 „ |
| 1889 178 „ | 1898 283 „ |
| 1890 180 „ | Corrected Mean 219 „ |
| 1891 159 „ | |
| 1892 189 „ | |
| 1893 237 „ | 1899 258 „ |
from this statement we see that last year 258 deaths were
entered in the registers from this one cause alone. They represent
over four per cent. of the entire mortality, and as all the deaths,
with the exception of 22 occurred in the third quarter of the year,
the very fatal character of the disease, usually called at that period
" epidemic diarrhœa," can be well understood.
The 258 deaths represent a death-rate of 0.74 per 1,000
inhabitants, but as all these, with the exception of 17, occurred
among children who had not yet reached five years of age, it is
apparent that Diarrhoea is a very fatal disease to children, 208 of
whom died while they were yet infants, not having reached the end
of their first year, and 33 between that age and five years.