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114
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
"We have the honour of submitting to you a report of
our visits among infants during the year 1909.
"We had the help of three voluntary workers at different
times during the year—one from the 15th February to the
21 st April, one from the 17th August to the 22nd October,
and the third from the 24th August to the 21st December.
Out of the total number of visits, viz.:—4,102 (which includes
re-visits and ineffectual calls), 1,943 were paid by the voluntary
workers (Clapham 113, Putney 116, Balham 126, Tooting
423, Southfield 288, Fairfield 286, and Springfield 591). The
large proportion of voluntary work done in Wandsworth is
due to the fact that so many more cases of Phthisis were
notified under the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations,
1908, in that district than in the others, and this work occupied
a great part of our time.
"The total number of visits paid after registration of
births will be found in the first of our Tables (No. L.), which
also shows the method of feeding at the first visit, and the
number of ineffectual calls. The number of deaths among
infants visited we have this year shown in a separate Table,
so as to indicate the age in months at which they died.
"In Putney only one death occurred, the cause being
Syncope and Convulsions. In Balham three died from
Bronchitis and one from Marasmus. In Tooting 10 died
from Diarrhoea and Enteritis, one at the age of one month,
one at two months, three at three months, one at four months,,
two at seven months, one at eight months, and one at nine
months; two died from Marasmus aged one and four months;
and three from other causes, at two, three and five months.
In Southfield three died : two from Diarrhoea at the age of
seven months, and one from Bronchitis aged one month. In
Fairfield eight died : two from Diarrhoea aged two and three
months, two from Marasmus also aged two and three
months, and four from other causes aged two, three and eight
months. In Springfield there were 23 deaths, chiefly from
Bronchitis and Pneumonia, 10 being due to that cause, four
died at the age of two months, one at three months, two at