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

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West Ham 1910

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]

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Enteric Fever and Pneumonia1
Croup and Pneumonia1
Croup0
Erysipelas1
Suspected Typhus Fever3
Making a total of34

Typhus Fever.—During the first quarter of 1910 a small
outbreak of this disease occurred in Tidal Basin Ward, the first group
of cases which have occurred in West Ham since the incorporation of
the Borough. One death from typhus fever was recorded in 1899,
but since then the Borough has been free from it. Typhus, known
also as Gaol Fever and Ship Fever from its frequency of attack upon
prisons and vessels in the past, and as Spotted Fever from its petechial
rash, although severely epidemic in the temperate climates of Europe
and especially in Ireland during the seventeenth and eighteenth
•centuries, so that in 1780 Haslar Hospital received 5,539 cases of
fever in the year from the Channel Fleet alone, has been rapidly
diminishing in extent and virulence of recent years owing to modern
sanitation.
While there is little doubt that the disease is caused by a microorganism,
and several have been described as associated with it, the
specific organism has not yet been established. The predisposing
causes however are clear, as almost all recorded epidemics have been
traced to long-continued overcrowding in association with destitution,
defective ventilation, and personal filth. When once established the
disease is highly infectious, but the range of infection does not extend
to any great distance from the sufferer, though it may be conveyed by
clothing and possibly by fleas and flies. The period of greatest