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70
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Of the cases in which no information was obtainable, three
died in the Workhouse, one, a nurse child, had been in the Union
Infirmary for nine months ; three wrong addresses were given; two
mothers had removed directly after the death of the children, and
one child died at Gosport. Seven of the deaths occurred in good
residential districts and no inquiries were made.
Of the contributory causes to the infants' deaths it may be
noted that four of the mothers were very ill before the confinement,
and one mother was subject to epileptic fits, and twice while nursing
fell on the child. In three cases children in the same family had
had an attack of Diarrhcea and had probably infected the infant,
and three infants had had previous attacks of Diarrhcea when
teething. Two fathers and one mother suffered from Pulmonary
Tuberculosis, 10 of the infants suffered from indigestion and bowel
trouble from birth. The mother of one illegitimate child was only
16 years of age and mentally defective. One infant was admitted
to the Union Infirmary at six weeks and died there at the age of
five months. One had pneumonia at two months, was in the
Union Infirmary from January to April, in the Workhouse during
the month of May, then under a doctor till August, when it was
admitted to a Hospital where it died.
In the case of two deaths, those of twins, an inquest was considered
necessary, the verdict being malnutrition in addition to
Infective Enteritis, and the mother had had twins three times
with an interval of only 15 months between the last two sets.
In 14 cases the mothers reported a great many flies had been
noticed at the time of the child's illness and death, and in nine cases
there were stables at rear of the house.
15 deaths from Diarrhoea occurred among children over one
and under two years of age. Seven of these children had been
previously visited.
Three of these deaths occurred in the Union Infirmary and
three in hospitals. One of these children was illegitimate.