View report page

to the
BOARD OF WORKS
for the
HACKNEY DISTRICT.
Gentlemen,
The sanitary events of the past year have not been
remarkable, so far as this district is concerned, if we except the
late severe epidemic of scarlet fever, which was more fatal than
in any year since the passing of the Metropolis Local Management
Act. As the number of inhabitants increase, whenever
an infectious disease breaks out, it is likely to spread more
rapidly than heretofore, in consequence of the more free
intercourse which almost necessarily takes place in densely
populated, as compared with sparsely populated localities. There
was, however, one peculiarity in this epidemic, viz.: that the
children of the middle and upper-middle classes suffered
proportionately more severely than those of the poorer classes.
This peculiarity was not confined to Hackney only, but was
observed by other medical officers of health in their districts.
The number of cases attended by the medical officers of the
Union was as follows:—in 1867, only 41; in 1868, 44; and in
1869, 224. This is but a small number, considering the large
mortality in the district, as no less than 248 deaths from scarlet
fever were registered in 1869 against 49 in 1868. The registration
returns showed that a large increase in the number of
deaths occurred in July, and continued up to the end of
December. The sickness returns of the Union medical officers