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16
Measles.
The deaths from measles in the Administrative County of London in 1898 numbered
3,077, as compared with 1,933 in 1897, 3,697 in 1890, 2,630 in 1895, and 3,303 in 1894.
The death-rates from this disease per 1,000 living in 1898 and preceding periods have been
as follows—
1851-60 0.53
1861-70 0.58
1871-80 0.51
1881-90 0.64.
1891 0.431
1892 0.791
1893 0.381
1894 0.761
1895 0.601
1896 0.821
1897 0.431
1898 0.681
The death-rate in each year since 1840 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period
1841-98 is shown in diagram v.
If the London death-rate be compared with the death-rates of other large towns in England
it will be seen that in the period 1888-97 the London death-rate exceeded that of any of the undermentioned
towns, except Manchester, Liverpool, and Salford, and in 1898 exceeded that of any
except Bristol—

The following table shows that the measles death-rate in London was higher than that of
any of the undermentioned foreign cities in the year 1898, and in the period 1888-97 was higher
than that of any except St. Petersburg—

Prevalence of measles had manifested itself in the last quarter of the preceding year, 1897,
the number of deaths from this cause in the registration county of London having been in the
four quarters of that year 162, 298, 302, and 1,167 respectively. In the four quarters of 1898 the
number of deaths were 1,494, 1,078, 238, and 265. The mortality from this disease, therefore,
attained high proportions in the last quarter of 1897 and the first two quarters of 1898. The increase
in the fourth quarter of 1897 had been manifested in each group of districts, west, north,
central, east, and south, but not in each district, for in a few there was no notable increase until
the first quarter of 1898. In about one-third of the districts the mortality reached its highest point
in the last quarter of 1897, in less than half of the districts the highest point was reached in the
first quarter of 1898, and in less than a fourth of the districts in the second quarter of 1898, after
which there was a marked general decline in mortality.
In the distribution of measles mortality in London during the year 1898, the eastern
group of districts had the highest death-rate and the southern group the lowest. Among
the sanitary districts Woolwich had the highest mortality (1.40) and St. Martin-in-the-Fields the
lowest (.08). The measles mortality was highest in the first quarter of the year, and during this
quarter the measles death-rates of the western, northern, and eastern groups of districts exceeded
the London average. During the second quarter of the year the death-rate in the eastern group of
districts fell below the London average, but the western, northern, and central groups were above
the London average. In the third and fourth quarters of the year the measles death-rates of the
central and eastern groups were above the London average, the death-rate in the eastern group of
districts being considerably in excess in each of these quarters.
1 See footnote (1), Page 3.
2 See footnote (2), page 3.