View report page

103
As in previous years, careful enquiry was made into the
method of feeding adopted in the case of children under 1
because it is now generally agreed that diarrhœal diseaes are
more frequent amongst hand.fed infants than amongst
those who are breast.fed. It was found that out of the 155
infants affected, 17 were breast.fed, 15 were breast and hand.
fed, and 114 were hand.fed, while in 9 cases no information
was available. Taking notified and non.notified cases
together, 56 deaths occurred, 3 of whom were breast.fed,
4 were breast and hand, and 39 were hand.fed, while no
information was obtained in 10 cases. Enquiries were
made into 167 cases in all, 18 of which were breast.fed, 16
breast and hand.fed and 124 hand.fed. Amongst these
children 34 per cent. of those fed on cows' milk died, 24 per
cent. of those fed on dried milk died, and 39 per cent. of
those fed on various other foods died. If we assume—and
it is not an unreasonable assumption—that the distribution
of breast and hand.fed children in the Borough approaches
somewhat to that Table given a little earlier on on the work
of the Centres, we find that the incidence of summer diarrhoea
amongst breast.fed children was 1.25 per cent., amongst
breast and hand 3.32 per cent. and amongst hand.fed,
8.91 per cent.
In the case of notified cases between one and two years,
namely 139, the number of cases where, in addition to solid
feeding breast milk was used, was 15, cows' milk 67, dried
milk 15, and condensed milk 13.
Summer diarrhoea has been a notifiable infectious disease
in Woolwich, without limitation of age and sex, since 1913;
since 1905 it has been partially notifiable. In consequence
of this notification we have been able to accumulate a large