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Hooping Cough, Continued Fever and Rheumatic Fever. Small Pox occasioned
13 deaths. In the five weeks of December it only occasioned 9 deaths, and
last month only 3. It is at any rate as fatal now as it was in the previous
epidemic period; when this was at its height, namely, in February, 1860, the
monthly deaths were 11 in four weeks. The following particulars will show that
it is not only the unvaccinated who succumb, but those whose arms exhibit only
the marks of imperfect or insufficient vaccination. The cases were these—
A Female Servant, from 3, Northampton-place, Upper Holloway, aged 22 years _
(Died in S. P. Hospital,)
A Labourer from 14, Dorset-street, Ball's-pond, aged 26, (Died in S.P. Hospital)
Daughter of a Journeyman Carpenter at 5, Queen's Road, aged 1 year
A Bricklayer, from 10, Blundell Street, aged 59 years (Died in S.P. Hospital)
Son of an Excavator, at 35, Albion-place, Ball's-pond, aged 2 months
Son of a Jobbing Labourer, at 35, Dorset-street, Ball's-pond, aged 2 weeks...
Daughter of a Jobbing Labourer at 2, Garden-cottages, Newington-green,
aged 2 years
Wife of a Bricklayer, at 2, Mildmay-street, aged 43 years
A Mason, at Prince Albert, Windsor-street, aged 40 years
Daughter of a Cabdriver, at 7, Sun-row, aged 4 years
Female Child, at 6, Gordon Court, aged 13 months
A Plumber, from 35, Barnsbury-row, aged 30, (Died in S. P. Hospital,)
Wife of a Grocer, at 3, Strahan-place, aged 56
Two indifferent vaccine
cicatrices.
One indifferent cicatrix
Unvaccinated.
Vaccinated, probably after
imbibing the poison of the
disease.
' Supposed to hive been
vaccinated.
Vaccinated when young.
Supposed to have been
vaccinated when young.
Vaccinated, but with what
effect not ascertained.
Unvaccinated.
One pretty good Cicatrix.
The number of new cases on the books of the Parochial Surgeons and two Dispensaries
are 40, the weekly numbers being 6, 3, 8, 6, 10 (omitting those in the
Holloway Dispensary).
The deaths from Scarlet Fever rose from 21 in the four weeks of February to 41
in March, the March average for six years being only 9. The weekly numbers
were 6, 12, 2, 14, 7. The sudden fall in the mortality during the coldest week of
the month is very remarkable. The fatal cases chiefly occurred in those central
sanitary districts which are included between the Upper Street, Caledonian Road,
and Great Northern Railway, the greatest number being in Lower Holloway. The
new cases on the books of the Medical Officers before mentioned are 44, the weekly
numbers of 42 being 11, 8, 11, 6, 6.
There were 41 deaths of young children from Hooping Cough, the mean for
March being 15. The weekly numbers were 7, 4, 18, 6, 5; thus nearly half of these
deaths occurred in the cold week, showing the influence of the sudden change in the
temperature. The new cases on the Table II. are 49; the weekly numbers of those
attended by the Parochial Surgeons and Islington Dispensary were 10, 4, 4, 7, 9.
So it appears that the cold weather rather gave an impulse to the fatality of the
cases than absolutely increased their number. The districts where the deaths were
most numerous were those of Archway, Bemerton, Lower Road, and St. Peter's.
Of the 17 deaths from Fever 4 only are returned as Typhus, and 2 of these were
nurses in the Fever Hospital.
Rheumatic Fever exhibits the very unusual number of 7 deaths, but the number
of cases upon Table 2 are not exceptionally large.
There were 64 deaths of persons over 60 years of age, 7 of whom were over 80
years old, and one above 90.
EDWARD BALLARD, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.
Vestry Offices,
April 6th, 1863.