View report page

51
10 of these deaths occurred within the first week, two being
due to congenital disease and 5 to prematurity. Myocarditis,
"lack of animation" and difficult delivery were the causes assigned
to the remaining 3.
Of the remaining 12 cases which proved fatal within the month,
5 were due to poor general condition of the child since birth, 2 to
respiratory affections and one each to congenital malformation,
convulsions, jaundice, myocarditis and broncho-pneumonia with
spina bifida.
Of the 47 cases who died aged between 1 and 6 months, gastroenteritis
accounted for 6 and broncho-pneumonia 14.
Respirator affections accounted for 15 out of 31 cases of those
who died at ages between 6 and 12 months, gastro-enteritis 1,
measles 5 and congenital heart 3.
Deaths of Older Children.
59 children died between the ages of one and five years; of
these, 33 were males and 26 females. The largest individual cause
of death was pneumonia, which was assigned as the cause of
14 deaths in children between the ages of 1 and 2, measles caused
13 deaths, diphtheria 10 and scarlet fever 1 only. The total deaths
attributed to measles was 21, all of whom died under the age of
5 years, they were almost equally distributed among the sexes,
11 being boys and 10 girls; this once more demonstrates the
danger of measles in children under school age.

There were 48 cases in which a medical aid notice was sent by
a midwife to a medical practitioner on account of some eye condition
occurring in a newly born infant, but as will be seen from the table
above, only one case of true ophthalmia occurred and happily
recovery was complete without impairment of vision.
Discharge from the eye of a newly born infant, however slight,
must be notified to the Medical Officer of the Local Supervising
Authority, who, in the case of Dagenham, is the County Medical
officer. The present arrangement is that all such cases are referred
to your Medical Officer of Health who personally examines each