View report page

9
I have again had to record an exceptionally low death rate, viz.: 17.1 per
1,000 of the population, the deaths from the principal diseases of a Zymotic
nature having been the lowest on record since 1874.
Small-Pox, as will be seen elsewhere, was, for the time, remarkably quiet.
The actual mortality in the Parish from this disease was one, and in the
Hospitals of the Asylums Board only two deaths of parishioners were recorded.
Measles was the disease most severely epidemic during the year, the
deaths recorded being 165 as against 153, 161, 48, and 219 in the four previous
years.
Scarlatina was not so seriously epidemic, the deaths having been only 95
as against 142, 116, 198, 135, 173, 200, 125, 222, and 129 in the previous
nine years.
During the much more severely epidemic years of 1870,1869, 1863,1862,
and 1859 the deaths from scarlatina were respectively 465, 313, 392, 210,
and 216. The population of these years were 209,057; 202,182; 166,922;
161,679; and 143,338; as against 301,283 in the year under review.
Diphtheria: The deaths certified as having been caused from this
disease in the Parish during 1883 were 70, the largest number ever
recorded in the course of any one year, the monthly number of deaths ranging
from 2 to 9. There is, however, always some little difficulty in determining
whether the death has been caused by true Diphtheria, a disease characterised
by the presence of a membranous exudation, or the older form of malignant
sore throat, which, judging by the returns, seems to have been less fatal since
Diphtheria has been recognised as a distinct disease.
Whooping-Cough was neither so seriously fatal, nor so prevalent as in the
previous year, the 119 deaths attributable to the disease being the lowest on
record since 1870. The deaths were 299 both in 1882 and 1880, and 324 in
1869, these numbers being the highest on the records of the Parish.
Diarrhoea caused 162 deaths as against 149, 216, and 295 in the three
previous years.
To Fever generally, 86 deaths were referred, as against 77 and 79 in the
two previous years. This is a very satisfactory result, seeing that an exceptional,
although happily a circumscribed, outbreak of Typhoid Fever, in
August, contributed no less than 25 deaths to the total number.