London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

Poplar 1897

Annual report, year 1897, on the sanitary condition with vital statistics of the parishes of Poplar and Bromley within the Poplar District

This page requires JavaScript

22
ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
Notifications and Hospital Accommodation, Outworkers, and
Port Sanitary Authorities' Notifications.
There were 668 notifications of infectious diseases in Poplar and
1012 in Bromley; these do not include 65 second notifications.

The notification rate per 1000 living being:—

1894.1895.1896.1897.
Poplar 10.613.611.3(A) 11.49(B) 11.37
Bromley 12.911.913.8(A) 14.50(B) 14.19

Three of the scarlet fever cases notified were connected with milk
shops, as follows:—In two instances the patients were reported from
premises where milk was sold, in the third instance, the son of a
scarlet fever patient was found to work at a milk shop. The usual
steps were taken to prevent any likelihood of milk contamination.
The difficulty in obtaining the prompt removal of infectious cases
commenced about the beginning of July and continued very nearly
to the end of the year, when the Park Hospital was opened at Hither
Green on the 9th November. There is no question but that very
great hardships were endured by the poor of the district, and infectious
diseases were rendered liable to spread.
The usual steps were taken during these times of want of
modation as mentioned in previous reports.
The Clerk to the Asylums' Board wrote on 21st December, asking,
that, in the event of pressure upon the Board's accommodation again
necessitating the temporary refusal of diphtheria cases, whether the
Medical Officer would be willing to receive and distribute anti toxic
serum, as the managers have reason to believe that in some cases
(from causes beyond their control) delay has occurred before antitoxin
is in the hands of the medical practitioner. A supply will be