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Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Edmonton,
17th April, 1906.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Edmonton Urban District Council.
Gentlemen,
In fulfilment of my statutory duty I have the honour to present
my third annual report on the health and sanitary circumstances
of Edmonton.
The vital statistics show that during the past year the health of
the district was, on the whole, very satisfactory and is, in more
than one respect, a marked improvement on the experience of
previous years. The most noticeable feature is the drop in the
general death rate, which reached the lowest figure (13.3) of which
I can find any record. This has been accompanied by a reduction
in the death rate from nearly all the important diseases, but more
especially from epidemic diarrhœa and phthisis.
The infantile mortality rate for the year is one of the lowest
recorded in the district. This is all the more gratifying because of
the attention which the Council have given to this very important
subject in recent years.
In the report I have devoted considerable space to the infectious
diseases, and especially to scarlet and enteric fevers, both of which
were more prevalent than usual during the year. I have also
drawn attention to the relations existing between school attendance
in very young children and the spread of measles and
whooping cough.
It affords me much pleasure once more to express my thanks to
the Sanitary Committee and the Council for the support they have
always given to the work of my department; to Mr. Butland also,
and the staff of the Public Health Department, I am much indebted
for their loyal assistance throughout the year.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
A. W. J. MacFADDEN,
Medical Officer of Health