London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hackney 1884

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]

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8
December 38; in January 43; in February 27; in March 103;
in April 138; in May 348; in June 272; in July 112; in
August 40; and in September 67, there having been another
rather severe outbreak between September 25th and October 1st.
This outbreak somewhat resembled that of March by the absence
of cases a fortnight before to account for the infection, the
locality of these cases being far distant from those that occurred
between the 11th and 18th of September. The outbreak in
May was the severest I ever knew and lasted from May 21st to
June 3rd inclusive. During these few days as many as 223
cases were reported to me between the 22nd and June 3rd
inclusive. The total number reported in May was 348, and in
June 272, making 620 cases in the two months. A considerable
number was treated at home, and several were taken to Highgate,
so that 486 only were removed to the Asylum Board's
hospitals. The chief force of the outbreak was spent upon
Hackney and Bethnal Green, as in addition to the 486 cases
removed from Hackney there were 311 removed from Bethnal
Green, 176 from Mile End, 156 from Shoreditch, 88 from
Islington, 80 from Whitechapel, and 68 from Stepney, making
a total of 1,365 removed from these 7 parishes, and against 359
during the same period from all the other metropolitan parishes
on this side of the Thames.
Although I have referred to the epidemic of 1880 in my
report for that year, yet I think it necessary to recapitulate the
main facts so far as they bear on the present subject, viz., the
influence of the hospital on the surrounding neighbourhood.
The hospital was closed from September, 1879, to February 9th,
1880, and although no cases had occurred in the neighbourhood
since October, yet, a month after the hospital was opened, the
disease became epidemic in the streets near it, 40 cases having
been reported to me in 1880, out of 363 in the whole district.
There were also numerous other cases within the quarter-mile
radius to the north of the hospital, as the total number of cases