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105
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The total number of deaths among those visited was 58, five
in Clapham, four in Putney, four in Streatham, 18 in Tooting,
and 27 in Wandsworth. Table LIV. shows these deaths arranged
in monthly age periods. The heaviest mortality occurred at three
to four months, while no deaths occurred at nine to 10 and 10 to 11
months.
The decrease in the deaths was largely due to the decrease in
the number of deaths from Diarrhoea and Enteritis.
It is a most significant fact that the number of deaths from
Diarrhoea and Enteritis among 2,517 infants who were breastfed
was only eight, or a percentage mortality of 31, while among
542 infants who were otherwise fed the number of deaths was 40
or a percentage mortality of 7.4. The mortality among infants
otherwise fed was thus 42 times greater than those breast-fed.
The mortality among the infants visited by the Inspectors
was only 19 per 1,000, compared with 76 per 1,000, the rate for
the Borough for the year.