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 1857
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Parish of St Mary]
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age, and 6 between 1 and 2 years; between the ages of 2 years and 70 although
diarrhœa has spared no age in its attacks, not a single death was registered.
The large number of cases of diarrhœa which have occurred, is also the
principal cause of the high total of 1084 new cases of disease entered in the
hooks of the parochial Surgeons. Hooping cough, diarrhoea and fever, have
all been more prevalent than in July last year, when there were entered 12
cases of hooping cough, 135 ofdiarrhœa, and 11 of fever. Diarrhoea and fever
have especially made progress during the two last weeks of the month. The
following table represents this fact in its relation to atmospheric temperature.
| Mean Temp. (Greenwich.) | Parish cases of Diarrhoea & Cholera | Deaths from Diarrhœa & Cholera | Parish cases of Fever. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1856. | 1857. | 1856. | 1257. | 1856. | 1857. | 1856. | J857. | |
| 1st week in July | 59.2° | 62.4° | 19 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2nd | 57.6° | 59.6° | 25 | 34 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 3rd | 60.1° | 68.0° | 20 | 38 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 4th | 64.2° | 68.3° | 31 | 94 | 3 | 20 | 1 | 8 |
| 5th | 67.6° | 65.6° | 40 | 88 | 6 | 20 | 3 | 9 |
| Total | Mean 61.7° | Mean 64.7° | 135 | 284 | 16 | 57 | 11 | 24 |
The case of cholera mentioned in Table 2, occurred in the person of a
female aged 37 years, residing at 5 Half Moon Crescent. She was seized in
the morning of the 19th, and was removed in the afternoon to the hospital,
where she ultimately recovered. Three children in the same house had
recently suffered from fever. The drains were all untrapped and extremely
offensive. I directed an inspection of all the houses in the Crescent, and the
result is now laid before the Committee in the customary form. Your
Inspector was seized with illness immediately after spending a short time
in No. 5.
Six of the nine cases of fever which were entered by the Parochial Surgeons
in the last week of the month, occurred in Stroud's Vale. The sanitary condition
of this locality will receive immediate attention.
EDWARD BALLARD, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.
42, Myddelton Square,
August 6th, 1857.