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

Wandsworth 1871

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]

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42
Zymotic Diseases, their prevalence and fatality,—
Amongst the various classes of inhabitants as many as
192 deaths, due to maladies of the epidemic or Zymotic
order, took place during the past year. It is not very
satisfactory to find that the fatal cases of this class of
disease absorbed considerably more than one-third of those
from all causes, Small Pox alone having caused as many as
94 deaths. Of these 94 fatal cases of Small Pox, 49 were
of young children, including 15 under 1 year, 22 from 1
to 5 years, and 12 from to 10 years. There were others
who succumbed to this distressing malady, varying in age
from 20 to 63 years, and a rather large number (35) were
registered as having died wholly unvaccinated. Several
who had had the disease once, and some few who have
been twice afflicted, took it a third time and became
severely invalided, thus confirming my experience that
vaccination is quite as great a protection as Small Pox
itself.

Table: Comment upon the following table—which is inserted to show the comparative mortality from the seven principal Zymotic diseases in the past and 10 preceding years—will be quite unnecessary, but from it may be gathered the fact that if we exclude the excess of deaths from Small Pox and Whooping Cough, the normal mortality, compared with that of the 10 preceding years, allowance being made for increase of population, will not have been very greatly disturbed.

Comment upon the following table—which is inserted to show the comparative mortality from the seven principal Zymotic diseases in the past and 10 preceding years—will be quite unnecessary, but from it may be gathered the fact that if we exclude the excess of deaths from Small Pox and Whooping Cough, the normal mortality, compared with that of the 10 preceding years, allowance being made for increase of population, will not have been very greatly disturbed.

Years.18611862186318641865186618671868186918701871
Small-pox.611137107010694
Measles062412718392142
Scarlatina.22132811116514294520
Diphtheria133124537023
Whooping-cough1414910151472529918
Typhus5861411161026171210
Diarrhœa & Cholera167161120172128303131
Totals76529563758656109117119178