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

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St James's 1871

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St James's, Westminster]

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41
of Small Pox occurring in the District Hospitals,
affords a most triumphant confirmation of the value
of vaccination as a means of preventing death from
Small Pox.
Table No. 3 shows at decennial groups of ages the decreasing
rate of mortality according to the number of vaccination marks,
whether good or bad, as exemplified in 5,539 cases treated in
the Hampstead Hospital and the Stockwell Small Pox Hospital.
The importance of this Table is obvious, for it will be seen
that the percentage of deaths which, in the whole of the unvaccinated
cases was 55.9, decreased from 15.2 in cases with
one mark, to 5.5 in cases with five or more marks.
Table 4 shows the comparative results in unvaccinated cases,
in cases which have been badly, and in cases which have been
well vaccinated, distinguishing those under from those above 15
years of age, as taken from 3,085 cases treated in the Homerton
Fever and the Stockwell Small Pox Hospitals.
This Table shows that the mortality, which in unvaccinated
cases was no less than 47.5 per cent., and in badly vaccinated
cases 25 per cent., varied in well vaccinated cases from 5.3 in
those showing one good mark, to 1.1 in those showing four or
more good marks; and that of the total of 420 well vaccinated
cases under 15 years of age, the death-rate was only 0.47 per
cent., giving a comparative immunity from fatal results.
Next, as to the additional cost imposed upon the ratepayers
in consequence of non-vaccination and the imperfect manner in
which vaccination is often performed. The average duration of
treatment of a well vaccinated case is about 21 days. Up to
the 30th of March last, 14,400 eases were treated, of which
9,700 died, and 11,700 remained under treatment until complete
recovery. If all these had been properly vaccinated, the duration
of their stay in hospital should have been about 245,400 days,
but the actual number of days charged to the Parishes and
Unions for these 11,700 cases (allowance having been made for
the 2,700 deaths) has been 378,700, or 133,300 days more than