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 1910
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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38
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1910.
The following table shows that in the quinquennium 1905-9 the London death-rate from diphtheria and croup exceeded that of any of the undermentioned foreign towns except Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna, and New York ; in 1910 the London rate was in addition exceeded in Rome :¡ª
| Town. | 1905-9. | 1910. | Town. | 1905-9. | 1910. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 0.15a | 0.10a | St. Petersburg | 0.57 | 0.38 |
| Paris | 0.07 | 0.10 | Berlin | 0.23 | 0.34 |
| Brussels | 0.09 | 0.08 | Vienna | 0.20 | 0.13 |
| Amsterdam | 0.09 | 0.06 | Rome | 0.12 | 0.24 |
| Copenhagen | 0.08 | 0.08 | New York | 0.41 | 0.36 |
| Stockholm | 0.16 | 0.28 |
Diphtheria
death-rates
in foreign
towns.
The following table shows the diphtheria cases, deaths, case-rates, and death-rates for the year 1910, and the case-rates and death-rates for the period 1905-9, in the several sanitary districts :¡ª
| Metropolitan borough. | Notified Cases, 1910 (52 weeks). | Case-rate per 1,000 persons living. | Deaths, 1910 (52 weeks). | | Death-rate per 1,000 persons living. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1905-9. | 1910. | 1905-9. | 1910. | |||
| Paddington | 120 | 1.09 | 0.84 | 9 | 0.09 | 0.06 |
| Kensington | 155 | 1.11 | 0.90 | 16 | 0.11 | 0.09 |
| Hammersmith | 165 | 1.90 | 1.37 | 22 | 0.17 | 0.18 |
| Fulham | 257 | 2.72 | 1.69 | 14 | 0.22 | 0.09 |
| Chelsea | 83 | 1.76 | 1.24 | 4 | 0.16 | 0.06 |
| Westminster, City of | 149 | 1.04 | 0.92 | 10 | 0.08 | 0.06 |
| ¡ö St. Marylebone | 127 | 1.01 | 1.07 | 9 | 0.09 | 0.08 |
| Hampstead | 51 | 0.92 | 0.60 | 5 | 0.07 | 0.06 |
| St. Pancras | 263 | 1.36 | 1.20 | 21 | 0.11 | 0.10 |
| Islington | 473 | 1.34 | 1.44 | 33 | 0.12 | 0.10 |
| Stoke Newington | 53 | 1.32 | 1.05 | 2 | 0.07 | 0.04 |
| Hackney | 190 | 1.77 | 0.86 | 8 | 0.14 | 0.04 |
| Holborn | 45 | 1.02 | 0.90 | 4 | 0.10 | 0.08 |
| Finsbury | 150 | 1.78 | 1.69 | 21 | 0.17 | 0.24 |
| London, City of | 20 | 0.98 | 0.99 | ¨C | 0.10 | ¡ª |
| Shoreditch | 131 | 1.65 | 1.17 | 14 | 0.15 | 0.13 |
| Bethnal Green | 182 | 2.02 | 1.42 | 20 | 0.18 | 0.16 |
| Stepney | 404 | 2.24 | 1.44 | 29 | 0.24 | 0.10 |
| Poplar | 175 | 1.96 | 1.08 | 21 | 0.21 | 0.13 |
| Southwark | 284 | 1.67 | 1.47 | 35 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
| Bermondsey | 210 | 1.98 | 1.66 | 19 | 0.16 | 0.15 |
| Lambeth | 327 | 1.28 | 1.10 | 26 | 0.16 | 0.09 |
| Battersea | 227 | 1.75 | 1.35 | 12 | 0.13 | 0.07 |
| Wandsworth | 286 | 1.77 | 0.94 | 13 | 0.13 | 0.04 |
| Camberwell | 272 | 1.36 | 1.04 | 22 | 0.14 | 0.08 |
| Deptford | 130 | 2.12 | 1.19 | 11 | 0.14 | 0.10 |
| Greenwich | 168 | 2.49 | 1.75 | 10 | 0.18 | 0.10 |
| Lewisham | 224 | 2.12 | 1.42 | 20 | 0.15 | 0.13 |
| Woolwich | 172 | 2.61 | 1.42 | 4 | 0.17 | 0.03 |
| Port of London | 1 | |||||
| London | 5,494 | 1.67 | 1.22 | 434 | 0.15 | 0.10 |
It will be seen from the foregoing table that in the period 1905-9 the diphtheria death-rate
was highest in Stepney (0.24) and lowest in Hampstead and Stoke Newington (0.07); in the year
1910 Finsbury (0.24) had the highest death-rate, and Woolwich (0.03) the lowest, exclusive of the
City of London, where no death occurred. The diphtheria death-rates in London in each of the
four quarters of the year 1910 were as follows: first quarter 0.11 ; second quarter, 0.06 ; third
quarter, 0.08 ; and fourth quarter, 0.13.
To enable the variations in diphtheria prevalence in the several sanitary districts to be more
clearly appreciated, the following table has been prepared. This table shows the comparative case-rates
of each district in each of the years 1891-1910 inclusive, i.e., the case-rates of each district are shown
(a) See footnote (c), page S.