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

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Shoreditch 1862

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch, Parish of St. Leonard]

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16
in 1860, 23. We are now in a period of decline of this disease. It
appears to have its periods of rise and fall. During the intervals of
remission, there is a gradual accumulation of subjects susceptible to the
disease, who will take it the moment they are exposed to the contagion.
Accordingly, when a certain amount of fuel for the contagion has been
collected, the disease spreads until the fuel is exhausted. I do not
regard the low number of deaths from Small-Pox during last year as
affording particular cause for congratulation. There are no grounds for
concluding that any great advance has been made of late years, in extending
the protection of Vaccination."
So far, then, as statistics inform us upon this question, the experience
of last year confirms the result shown in my several successive annual
reports, namely, that the proportion of vaccinations to births has been
continuously decreasing. No fact can more clearly demonstrate the
necessity for increasing the facilities for vaccinating. During the six
months ending Midsummer, 1863, 56 persons paid with their lives the
penalty for neglect of vaccination.
During the year 1862, 3 patients afflicted with Small-Pox were sent
to the Small-Pox Hospital, at Highgate. During the six months ending
at Midsummer last, 8 patients were sent to the same institution.

The following table exhibits the progress of vaccination since 1854 :

VaccinationsoBirthsoProportiono
Sepo 29th, 1854, to Sepo 29th, 18552812454262
1855, „ 18563094474865
1856, „ 18573280486969
1857, „ 18583022492260
1858, „ 18592502497350
1859, „ 18602659514649
1860, „ 18612304486447
1861, „ 186222465191*40
1862, to 25th Maro, 18631187272542

There are two practical resources available to arrest or diminish the
ravages of an epidemic of Small-Pox. The first is to place all the persons
susceptible to the disease, as promptly as possible, under the protective
influence of vaccination. The second is to diminish the immediate risk of