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
West Ham 1900
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]
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school. It is, however, patent that, at present a high death-rate in
a poor district is not to be explained by any one cause. Many factors
in varying degrees operate in producing the infant holocaust of our
great towns, of which, doubtless, alcoholic excesses may still be safely
placed first, and it cannot be gainsaid that the tendency displayed in
recent years of increasing intemperance among women is fraught with
deadlier results than the past abuse of intoxicants by the male
population.
Mortality Statistics of Special Areas.
| Area. | No of Houses. | Population. | No. of Persons per House. | No. of Deaths. | Death-rate per 1.000 Living. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodgrange Area | 447 | 2,293 | 5.1 | 21 | 9.1 |
| Bidder Street „ | 491 | 3,189 | 6.5 | 92 | 28.8 |
| Croydon Koad „ | 998 | 6,129 | 6.1 | 98 | 15.9 |
| Hallesville „ | 794 | 5,875 | 7.4 | 204 | 34.7 |
| West Silvertown Area | 203 | 1,480 | 7.3 | 47 | 31.7 |
| Mid- Silvertown ,, | 338 | 2,342 | 6.9 | 43 | 18.3 |
| East Silvertown „ | 198 | 1,604 | 8.1 | 48 | 29.3 |
| County Borough | 40,433 | 262,627 | 6.4 | 5,156 | 21.1 |
Chief Zymotic Diseases.— One thousand and sixty-nine
deaths occurred from the seven chief zymotic diseases, equivalent to an
annual death rate of 4'0 per 1,000. Of these Diarrhoea was responsible
for 489 deaths, Measles for 143, and Whooping Cough for 183—an
improvement, compared with the previous year, in the two former
cases. As these diseases are not notifiable, it is impossible to estimate
the number of cases which occurred.
Small-pox threatened the Borough at the beginning of the year,
11 cases in all being notified to me. I quote the particulars, as they
reveal some of the various ways in which this highly-infectious disease
is spread :—
(1) Charles Sermon, aged 34. Notified 8th January from the
Seamen's Hospital, was removed by the Metropolitan