London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1890
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
This page requires JavaScript
18
In the 27 Cities and Boroughs grouped by the RegistrarGeneral
with the Metropolis, the zymotic death-rate was 2.73 per
1000, ranging from 1.19 in Huddersfield, 1.37 in Halifax, and
1.58 in Nottingham, to 8.73 in Bolton, 3.84 in Salford, 4.01 in
Manchester, and 4.28 in Preston.
The subjoined Table shews the distribution of deaths in Kensington from the principal diseases of the zymotic class, registered in thirteen four-weekly periods, corresponding with my monthly reports :—
| Report for Four Weeks ended | Measles. | Scarlet Fever. | Diphtheria. | Whooping-Couglh. | Enteric Fever. | Diarrhoea. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 25 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 15 | |||
| February 22 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 18 | ||
| March 22 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 24 |
| April 19 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 25 | |
| May 17 | 19 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 36 | |
| June 14 | 48 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 67 | |
| July 12 | 38 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 14 | 67 |
| August 9 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 46 |
| September 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 29 | |
| October 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 14 | |
| N oveinber 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 15 | |
| November 29 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| January 3 (1891) | 3 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 21 | |
| (5 weeks). | |||||||
| Totals | 140 | 26 | 35 | 93 | 15 | 78 | 387 |
I now proceed to make a few observation with regard to
each of these diseases.
SMALL-POX.
Only one case of small-pox, and that an imported one, was
recorded in Kensington. In London generally, the disease was
at low ebb, only 26 cases having been received at the Asylums
Board Hospitals, and only four deaths having been registered, the
decennial average number corrected for increase of population
being 678. The deaths from small-pox during the