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
Shoreditch 1901
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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The numbers of cases and the deaths amongst males and females in the Borough and its four Registration Sub-Districts are as follows:
| Sub-District. | DIPHTHERIA (Including Membranous Croup.) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases Certified. | Fatal Cases. | |||||
| Male. | Female. | Total. | Male. | Female | Total. | |
| Shoreditch South | 20 | 24 | 44 | - | 3 | 3 |
| Hoxton New Town | 26 | 31 | 57 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Hoxton Old Town | 36 | 30 | 66 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Haggerston | 68 | 81 | 149 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Total for the whole Borough | 150 | 166 | 316 | 10 | 18 | 28 |
The cases certified were at the rate of 2.6 per 1,000 inhabitants. Of the cases
certified 261, or nearly 83 per cent., were removed to hospital for treatment as
compared with 86 per cent, in 1900, 80 per cent, in 1899, 77.2 per cent, in 1898,
67 in 1897 and 55 per cent, in 1896.
During the year, enquiries were made as to the circumstances connected with 245 of the cases of diphtheria certified, and the distribution of the cases amongst males and females at certain age periods was as follows:—
| Age Period. | Males. | Female. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 1 | - | 1 |
| From 1 to 2 years | 14 | 12 | 26 |
| ,, 2 ,, 3 ,, | 7 | 16 | 23 |
| ,, 3 ,, 4 ,, | 21 | 18 | 39 |
| ,, 4 ,, 5 ,, | 15 | 12 | 27 |
| ,, 5 ,, 10 ,, | 20 | 30 | 50 |
| ,, 10 „ 13 „ | 6 | 15 | 21 |
| Over 13 years | 13 | 40 | 58 |
| Total | 102 | 143 | 245 |
Of the above cases 94 were children going to school, and in 78 instances they
had been attending school within one week of the onset of symptoms. In a few
cases the patients appear to have been attending school whilst suffering from the
disease before it was recognised to be diphtheria. In 113 other cases, although the
patients themselves were not attending school, other children members of the same
f amilies as the patients, or dwelling in the same houses, were attending school at the
time the patients were taken ill. In 138 of the cases, the houses in which the
patients resided were found on inspection to be in a satisfactory sanitary condition
and in the remaining 105 insanitary conditions of major or minor importance
were discovered. In 27 instances there were histories of cases of throat illness
not regarded as diphtheria in the houses in which the patients lived and in 24
instances there was evidence of infection from previous cases.