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
Stoke Newington 1906
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stoke Newington, The Metropolitan Borough]
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36
DIPHTHERIA.
The 45 cases of Diphtheria occurred in 42 houses, 5 of which were more or less insanitary. The sanitary defects were grave in one and slight in four other instances.
| Year. | Death-Rate for Stoke Newington. | Kate for London generally. | Hate for England and Wales. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 0.27 | 0 30 | 0.27 |
| 1902 | 0.09 | 0.25 | 0.23 |
| 1903 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 0.18 |
| 1904 | 0.19 | 0.16 | 0.17 |
| 1905 | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.16 |
| 1906 | 0 08 | 0.14 | 0.17 |
School attendance is either alleged by the parents or surmised
by myself, on good grounds, to be the cause of at least 4 attacks
during the year.
One case of infection was imported into the Borough, and at
least 3 appear to have caught the infection from previous cases. In
several cases it was very clear that a preceding tonsilitis of several
weeks' duration predisposed to an attack of Diphtheria. In 7 cases
there was a history of previous throat trouble, frequently recurring.
The continued decline in the rate of mortality amongst cases of
Diphtheria is an extremely satisfactory factor in the statistics. In
1893, the year before the disease was treated with antioxic serum,
the death-rate was as high as 30.4 per cent. Since the introduction
of the treatment the rate has rapidly declined. At one of the fever
hospitals a record has been kept of the mortality-rates according to
the day of disease in which the antitoxic serum treatment was commenced.
Of 219 cases treated, during the years 1897 to 1905, on