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 1914
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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20.5 in 1902, 15.4 in 1901, 22.7 in 1900, 34.2 in 1899, 29.5 in 1898, 36.0 in 1897,
31.8 in 1896, 47.5 in 1895, 43.0 in 1894 and 61.0 in 1893. There were 5 deaths
of children aged from 5 to 10 years and one death in a child over 10 years but
under 15. The mortality amongst children over 5 years of age was at the rate of
5.3 per cent. of the cases certified, or, allowing for errors in diagnosis, 5.6 per cent.
With respect to 207 of the cases certified during the year, they were distributed amongst males and females at certain age periods as set out in the subjoined table:—
| Age Period. | Male. | Female. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| From 1 to 2 years | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| „ 2„ 3 „ | 15 | 14 | 29 |
| „ 3 „ 4 „ | 16 | 9 | 25 |
| „ 4 „ 5 „ | 11 | 6 | 17 |
| „ 5 „ 10 „ | 32 | 28 | 60 |
| „ 10„13 „ | 6 | 13 | 19 |
| Over 13 years | 7 | 20 | 27 |
| Totals | 106 | 101 | 207 |
In 93 of the cases the patients were children attending school and in 72 of
these they were at school within a week of being certified as having the disease.
As noted in previous years, there were instances in which the children were at
school whilst suffering from diphtheria, before the nature of their illness was recognised.
In 92 other cases, although the patients themselves were not school-going
children, there were other children in the houses who were. In 36 instances the
histories showed that there had been cases of "sore throat" amongst the inmates of
the houses in which the patients resided. In 45 instances there was evidence
pointing to infection from previous cases in the Borough. In 149 instances the
houses were occupied by members of more than one family, in 35 by single families,
and in 23 instances the cases occurred in artisan's dwellings of the block type. With
regard to the sanitary condition of the dwellings, in 138 this was satisfactory, in 31
fairly so, and in 38 it was unsatisfactory, but these figures must not be taken as an
indication that a satisfactory sanitary condition is favourable to the occurrence
of diphtheria in houses.
The cases certified as diphtheria in London numbered 9,172 as compared with
7,654 in 1913, 7,109 in 1912, 7,378 in 1911, 5,508 in 1910, 6,783 in 1909, 7,840 in
1908 and 8,585 in 1907, the attack-rates being 2.0, 1.7, 1.5, 1.6, 1.1, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8
per 1,000 population for the 8 years respectively. The deaths from the disease in
the Metropolis numbered 706 as compared with 431 in 1913,452 in 1912, 612 in 1911,
434 in 1910, 605 in 1909 and 724 in 1908, the death-rate for the seven years
respectively being 0.16, 0.09, 0.10, 0.11, 0.09, 0.12 and 0.15 per 1,000 population.