London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1907
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
25
the Town sub-district; 3 of them took place in hospitals, to which 27 cases were removed. The
deaths from this cause in the preceding three years were 6, 13, and 5, respectively.
Enteric Fever in Kensington, 1897-1907.
| Year. | Cases Notified. | Case-rate per 1,000 of population. | Deaths. | Death-rate per 1,000 of population. | Case-mortality per cent. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897 | 117 | 0.69 | 21 | 0.12 | 18.0 |
| 1898 | 104 | 0.60 | 12 | 0.07 | 11.5 |
| 1899 | 107 | 0.62 | 23 | 0.13 | 21.5 |
| 1900 | 104 | 0.60 | 16 | 0.09 | 15.4 |
| 1901 | 97 | 0.55 | 11 | 0.06 | 11.3 |
| 1902 | 80 | 0.45 | 19 | 0.11 | 23.7 |
| 1903 | 61 | 0.34 | 9 | 0.05 | 14.8 |
| 1904 | 46 | 0.26 | 6 | 0.03 | 13.0 |
| 1905 | 49 | 027 | 13 | 0.07 | 26.5 |
| 1906 | 38 | 0.21 | 5 | 0.03 | 13.2 |
| 1907 | 40 | 0.22 | 5 | 0.03 | 12.5 |
The deaths in London, as a whole, 194, were 332 below the corrected decennial average:
the notifications 1,396 compared with 1,606 in 1906; the admissions to hospitals 541 (compared
with 750, 587, and 700, in the preceding three years), and the deaths thereat 72. At the close of
the year 119 patients remained under treatment, as against 159, 78, and 135, at the corresponding
period of the preceding three years.
No case of typhus was notified in the Borough, and only three cases in all London: there
was no death from this cause.
No death was registered in the Borough from simple continued fever (Pyrexia); three cases
were notified. The deaths and notifications in London from this cause were 4 and 35 respectively.
DIARRHŒA.
Diarrhoea was the cause of 30 deaths, compared with 128, 90, and 142, in the preceding
three years; 26 in the Town sub-district and 4 in Brompton; the corrected decennial average
being 112. The deaths registered from infantile diarrhœa in the twelve weeks July 14—October 5,
a period usually of great prevalence, were 17 only, compared with a corrected decennial average of
89; in London, as a whole, the deaths were 659, the quinquennial average annual number being
2,802. If the mortality, in 1907, be compared with that in 1906—when diarrhoea was very prevalent
and fatal, the contrast is even greater, the deaths in Kensington in the twelve weeks (17)
having been 104 fewer than in the corresponding period in 1906 (121). In London, the deaths
from this cause in the twelve weeks last year, were 3,605, whilst this year they were 659 only; a
saving of 2,946 lives. The high mortality from diarrhoea in 1906, and the low mortality in 1907 is
explained by the very different climatic conditions which prevailed; the summer of 1906 having
been hot and dry, that of 1907 cool, and with an equal but well distributed rainfall. The general
rate of mortality for the same period, in the two years, also differed considerably, having been in
Kensington, 10.5 per 1,000 in 1907, compared with 14.5 in 1906; whilst in London, as a whole, it
was 12.2 in 1907, compared with 16.0 in 1906. The lower rate in 1907 was due to the diminished
prevalence of fatal diarrhœa.
The deaths in London, as a whole, from this cause, were 1,543, and approximately 2,534
below the corrected decennial average (4,077): 1,337 of the deaths were of children under five
years of age, including 1,124 of infants under one year. Of the 1,543 deaths 780 were certified
Epidemic Diarrhœa or Infective Enteritis, and 763 Diarrhœa, Dysentery.