London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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City of London 1864

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]

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43
disease. This, unfortunately, cannot be accurately
determined, for the practice of indiscriminate
slaughter has destroyed the data for a positive
opinion. In some places, however, where the
nature of the disease was not recognised, and the
animals were let alone, the mortality was only 50
per cent. This was so in the outbreak among the
Dutch cattle at Mr. Leed's farm, in Norfolk, where
out of twenty-six cows that were attacked, thirteen
recovered. During the first two months of the
visitation of the disease in Holland, 3,319 animals
were infected, and of these 1,169 died, and 674
were slaughtered. This is at the rate of 55 per
cent. In 1862 the number of cattle attacked by
the plague in the Austrian dominions was 296,000,
of which 152,000 died. This is only about 51 per
cent. Again, in the year 1863 the disease invaded
Galicia and overran the whole kingdom of
Hungary and its dependencies: 14 per cent, of the
cattle took the disease, but the average mortality
in Hungary was not above 65 per cent. In Russia,
also, during the year 1864, 159,476 cattle were
attacked, and 104,714 died or were killed. This
also is only at the rate of 66 per cent ; but in
London, where the mortality has been great, and
the slaughter still greater, the loss has been raised
to 87 per cent.; while in all England the deaths
have been only 56 per cent., and the total loss but
75 per cent.