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
London County Council 1900
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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three weeks. Shoreditch-—-St. John's-road Board School, infants' department. One
class-room closed for three weeks.
December—Shoreditch—Trinity-place Board School, infants' department—One
class-room closed for a week before Christmas. Catherine-street Board School, infants'
department—One class-room closed for three weeks.
Scarlet Fever.
The cases of scarlet fever notified in the administrative County of London during 1900
numbered 13,892, compared with 18,224 in 1899. The number of deaths registered from this
cause in 1900 was 361. com Dared with 398 in 1899.
The London rate's in 1900 and preceding periods are shown in the following table—
| Period. | Death-rate per 1,000 living. | Case-rate per 1,000 living. | Case-mortality per cent. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1861-70 | 1.13 | _* | |
| 1871-80 | 0.60 | _* | _ |
| 1881-90 | 0.33 | _* | _ |
| 1891 | 0.141 | 2.7 | 5.1 |
| 1892 | 0.271 | 6.4 | 4.3 |
| 1893 | 0.371 | 8.6 | 4.3 |
| 1894 | 0.221 | 4.3 | 5.2 |
| 1895 | 0.191 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| 1896 | 0.211 | 5.7 | 3.7 |
| 1897 | 0.171 | 5.1 | 3.0 |
| 1898 | 0.131 | 3.8 | 3.4 |
| 1899 | 0.091 | 4.1 | 2.2 |
| 1900 | 0.081 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
The death-rate in each year since 1858 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period
1859-1900 will be seen on reference to diagram VIII., and the monthly case-rate and case-mortality
in each of the years 1891-1900 in relation to the mean of the whole period is shown in diagram X.
The relation of scarlet fever mortality to season will be seen on reference to diagram V.(c.), page 15,
showing the average weekly number of deaths from this disease in the 40 years 1861-1900.
It will be seen from the following table that in the1 period 1890-9 the London scarlet fever
death-rate was lower than that of any of the undermentioned towns except Birmingham, Leeds,
Bristol, Nottingham, Hull, and West Ham, and in 1900 was lower than that of any except West
Ham.
| Towns. | 1890-9. | 1900. | Towns. | 1890-9. | 1900. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 0.202 | 0.082 | Bristol | 0.13 | 0.12 |
| Manchester | 0.28 | 0.19 | Nottingham | 0.20 | 0.22 |
| Liverpool | 0.40 | 0.17 | Bradford | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Birmingham | 0.20 | 0.19 | Hull | 0.17 | 0.16 |
| Leeds | 0.18 | 0.12 | Salford | 0.37 | 0.45 |
| Sheffield | 0.28 | 0.17 | West Ham | 0.18 | 0.05 |
| Towns. | 1890-9. | 1900. | Towns. | 1890-9. | 1900. |
| Bristol | 0.13 | 0.12 | |||
| Manchester | 0.28 | 0.19 | Nottingham | 0.20 | 0.22 |
| Liverpool | 0.40 | 0.17 | Bradford | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Birmingham | 0.20 | 0.19 | Hull | 0.17 | 0.16 |
| Leeds | 0.18 | 0.12 | Salford | 0.37 | 0.45 |
| Sheffield | 0.28 | 0.17 | West Ham | 0.18 | 0.05 |
The following table shows that the London scarlet fever death-rate was in the period
1890-9 lower than that of any of the undermentioned foreign towns except Paris, Brussels,
Amsterdam, and Home, and in 1900 was lower than that of any except Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam,
Stockholm, and Rome.
| Towns. | 1890-9. | 1900. | Towns. | 1890-9. | 1900. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | 0.69 | 0.59 | |||
| Paris | 0.07 | 0.07 | Berlin | 0.24 | 0.33 |
| Brussels | 0.05 | 0.02 | Vienna | 0.21 | 0.10 |
| Amsterdam | 0.03 | 0.02 | Rome | 0.02 | 0.00 |
| Copenhagen | 0.24 | 0.15 | New York | 0.29 | 0.13 |
| Stockholm | 0.50 | 0.07 |
In this table 0.00 indicates that the deaths were too few to give a rate of 0.005.
In the distribution of scarlet fever mortality in London throughout the year 1900 the
central group of districts had the highest death-rate (0.11) and the western and northern groups
* The Infectious Disease (Notification) Act came into force in 1889.
1 See footnote (') page 5. 2 See footnote (2) page 6.