Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
The following table shows the age and sex distribution of the notified cases of erysipelas in 1906—
Age-period. | All Ages. | 0- | 5- | 10- | 15- | 20- | 25- | 35- | 45- | 55- | 65- | 75 and upwards. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Males | 2,188 | 212 | 78 | 99 | 89 | 107 | 328 | 417 | 407 | 261 | 148 | 42 |
Females | 2,831 | 209 | 104 | 150 | 176 | 180 | 379 | 480 | 477 | 338 | 246 | 92 |
The table shows, so far as the figures relating to notified cases of this disease can be trusted in this
connection, that the number of females attacked exceeds the number of males attacked.
The question whether the notification of cases of erysipelas should be discontinued was considered
by the London sanitary authorities at the instance of the Stepney Borough Council, but by a considerable
majority the suggestion was not approved. The metropolitan branch of the Society of Medical
Officers of Health also considered the subject, and was of a like opinion that the requirement of notification
should be continued. In his annual report Dr. Allan gives an interesting summary of the cases
notified in the City of Westminster during the last five years, viz., 630 in all. Of twenty-nine houses in
which cases had been notified thirty-one cases subsequently occurred; twelve were second attacks and
two third attacks of the same person. In seventeen instances the attacks were in different persons.
" Puerperal fever occurred in two houses in which there had been erysipelas. In one case the child had
erysipelas on the 16th February, and the mother died of puerperal fever on the 19th February; in the
second, a case of erysipelas occurred on the 27th January, and a woman died of puerperal fever on the
2nd March of the same year. The reverse occurred in one instance, puerperal fever in January, erysipelas
in the following May." From classification of the cases in connection with occupation it did not appear
that there was any particular incidence on any occupation except that of the group headed labourers,
costermongers, etc.
Puerperal Fever.
The deaths in the Administrative County of London during the year 1906 (52 weeks) attributed to
puerperal fever1 numbered 187, compared with 183 in 1905.
The number of cases notified and the number of deaths registered from this cause since the year
1890 have been as follows—
Year. | Notified cases. | Deaths. |
---|---|---|
1891 | 221 | 222 |
1892 | 337 | 313 |
1893 | 397 | 352 |
1894 | 253 | 210 |
1895 | 236 | 208 |
1896 | 277 | 225 |
1897 | 264 | 215 |
1898 | 247 | 184 |
1899 | 326 | 209 |
1900 | 237 | 169 |
1901 | 253 | 184 |
1902 | 311 | 201 |
1903 | 233 | 170 |
1904 | 273 | 198 |
1905 | 292 | 183 |
1906 | 298 | 187 |
If these cases and deaths are considered in relation to the total population and total births the
following rates are obtained—
Year. | Case-rate per 1,000 living. | Case-rate per 1,000 births. | Death-rate2 per 1,000 living. | Death-rate2 per 1,000 births. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1891 | 0.05 | 1.64 | 0.05 | 1.65 |
1892 | 0.08 | 2.55 | 0.07 | 2.37 |
1893 | 0.09 | 2.98 | 0.08 | 2.65 |
1894 | 0.06 | 1.92 | 0.05 | 1.60 |
1895 | 0.05 | 1.76 | 0.05 | 1.56 |
1896 | 0.06 | 2.04 | 0.05 | 1.66 |
1897 | 0.06 | 1.98 | 0.05 | 1.01 |
1898 | 0.05 | 1.86 | 0.04 | 1.39 |
1899 | 0.07 | 2.45 | 0.05 | 1.57 |
1900 | 0.05 | 1.81 | 0.04 | 1.29 |
1901 | 0.06 | 1.93 | 0.04 | 1.40 |
1902 | 0.07 | 2.34 | 0.04 | 1.51 |
1903 | 0.05 | 1.78 | 0.04 | 1.30 |
1904 | 0.06 | 2.11 | 0.04 | 1.53 |
1905 | 0.06 | 2.31 | 0.04 | 1.45 |
1906 | 0.06 | 2.39 | 0.04 | 1.50 |
Including deaths from puerperal septicaemia and puerperal pyæmia.
* See footnote (1) page 8.