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
Whitechapel 1878
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]
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was 569; 1nclud1ng 27 of small-pox, 19 of measles, 12 of hoop1ng-cough,
6 of d1arrhoea, 26 of febr1cula, and 2 of erys1pelas. The total number of
cases of 1llness 1n the Workhouse has been 902; 1nclud1ng 2 of small-pox,
1 of measles, 2 of hoop1ng-cough, 10 of d1arrhoea, 16 of febr1cula, and 3 of
fever. 1n add1t1on to the above cases there were 29 of syph1l1s; thus
mak1ng a total of 931.
1 may here observe that the 21 cases of small-pox wh1ch are recorded
1n the books of the Med1cal Off1cers of the Un1on g1ve only a port1on of
the cases wh1ch have occurred 1n the D1str1ct; for the San1tary Off1cers
have rece1ved 1nformat1on of 26 cases wh1ch were attended by pr1vate
med1cal pract1t1oners; and 1t appears, from the returns wh1ch have been
k1ndly sent to me by Mr. Vallanoe, that 49 pat1ents were removed to
the Metropol1tan Small Pox Hosp1tal dur1ng th1s Quarter from the D1str1ct,
of wh1ch number 4 d1ed. Ten pat1ents, suffer1ng from fever, were sent to
the Metropol1tan Fever Hosp1tal dur1ng the same per1od, 3 of whom d1ed.
All the rooms 1n wh1ch pat1ents have suffered, e1ther from fever, scarletfever,
or small-pox, wh1ch were reported to the San1tary Off1cers, have been
d1s1nfected.
The Comm1ttee of the London Hosp1tal have k1ndly forwarded to me the follow1ng return of Med1cal Cases, from th1s D1str1ct, adm1tted 1nto the Hosp1tal for the Quarter ended 25th March, 1878:—
WH1TECHAPEL D1STR1CT,
| OCCUPAT1ONS. MALES. | Total No. of Cases. | Fatal Oases. | General D1seases, Class 1. | General D1seases, Class 11. | Arthr1t1c D1seases. | D1seases of Nervous System. | D1seases of Vascular system | D1seases of Resp1ratory system | D1seases of D1gest1ve system. | D1seases of Ur1nary System. | Zymot1c D1seases. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labourer, 1n-door—Heavy Work | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| „ „ L1ght Work | 11 | l | l | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||
| „ out-door—DeaTj Work | 16 | 1 | l | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| ,, „ L1ght Work | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Seamen | |||||||||||
| Po1sonous or 1njur1ous | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Profess1onal | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Clerks | |||||||||||
| Ch1ldren and person of no occupat1on | 13 | 2 | l | l | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Total No. of oases | 48 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 2 | |
| Fatal cases | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |