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 1883
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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83
latter of course favorably so. All the other classes were
below the average, especially Class 5, Diseases of the
Respiratory Organs, and most importantly Class 1, which
includes all the diseases of the epidemic or contagious kind.
Epidemic Diseases, their prevalence and fatality. The following table exhibits the total number of deaths that occurred from the seven principal Epidemic diseases during the past and ten preceding years, and the relative proportion which they bore to the deaths from all causes.
| Years. | Small Pox. | Measles. | Scarlet Fever. | Diphtheria. | Whooping Cough. | Cholera. | Diarrhœa. | Fever—Typhus and Typhoid. | Total Deaths from Epidemic. | Total Deaths from all causes. | Per centage of deaths from Epidemics to deaths from all causes. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1873 | .. | 4 | .. | 3 | 8 | .. | 22 | 7 | 44 | 433 | 10.1 |
| 1874 | .. | 14 | 2 | .. | 19 | .. | 12 | 5 | 52 | 453 | 11.5 |
| 1875 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 14 | .. | 17 | 5 | 46 | 420 | 10.9 |
| 1876 | 1 | 17 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 16 | 12 | 71 | 461 | 15.4 |
| 1877 | .. | .. | 21 | .. | 11 | .. | 16 | 9 | 57 | 384 | 14.8 |
| 1878 | • • | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | .. | 19 | 3 | 38 | 422 | 9.0 |
| 1879 | 1 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 44 | .. | 7 | 8 | 92 | 516 | 17.8 |
| 1880 | .. | 9 | 24 | 4 | 15 | .. | 20 | 6 | 78 | 484 | 16.1 |
| 1881 | 9 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 12 | .. | 19 | 4 | 69 | 507 | 13.6 |
| 1882 | .. | 18 | 9 | 3 | 26 | .. | 29 | 9 | 94 | 544 | 17.2 |
The total number of deaths that resulted from these diseases
during the past year exhibits a diminution to the extent of over
one-eighth part of the corrected average of the preceding ten
years. Three of the number however,—Measles, Fever and
Diphtheria, were more fatal than usual. Measles was one.
third above the average; Fever also exceeded the average