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
Paddington 1897
Report on vital statistics and sanitary work for the year 1897
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57
The deaths registered as due to "diarrhoea" do
not account for all the deaths caused by those morbid
conditions which give rise to the high mortality of
infants during the summer months. "Diarrhoea" is,
after all, only a symptom of disease, and not a disease
per se, and many practitioners prefer to attribute*
the deaths to whatever conditions they may deem
to have caused the diarrhoea. Hence, in dealing
with the question, it is necessary to take note
of deaths classified as "enteritis," "atrophy and
debility," &c.—terms of but vague signification, and
denoting pathological processes with which diarrhoea
and wasting are most commonly associated.
The records for each of the ten years are here set out:—
| 1887. | 1888. | 1889. | 1890. | 1891. | 1892. | 1893. | 1894. | 1895. | 1896. | 1897. | |
| Diarrhoea | 51 | 25 | 51 | 50 | 64 | 62 | 54 | 38 | 72 | 54 | 83 |
| Enteritis | 7 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 43 | 25 | 27 | |
| Atrophy and Debility | 39 | 53 | 47 | 69 | 73 | 73 | 62 | 38 | 48 | 55 | 45 |
| Totals | 97 | 78 | 106 | 123 | 142 | 148 | 127 | 81 | 163 | 134 | 155 |
*There is also a certain amount of "fashion" influencing the certification
of deaths which has undoubtedly caused the transference of a considerable
number of deaths from " atrophy and debility," and " diarrhoea " to " enteritis."
This probably will account in part for the diminution in the number of deaths
under " convulsions."