[Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset Council
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/122 (page 17)
    1 ^ rn^] R P K R A L I'' EVE R. Sixteen cases were notilicvl as compared with 15 last year. Their distribution is shown in Table IX. In Langport one death is recorded but no notification, so evidently tlie medical man called in omitted to fulfil his statutorv diitv. In all, therefore, there have been 17 cases. In eight of these cases a medical man was in attendance although in one he was onlv called in at the last moment and in one other did not arrive until after birth. In six cases someone was acting as a monthly nurse, usually an untrained person. In seven cases midwives were in attendance, four being trained and three untrained. In the remaining tw'o cases the cases w^ere attended by uncertified wmmen. The cases occurred as follow's : In February 2, March 3, A})ril 1, May 1, June 1, July I, September 2, October 3, November 2, December I. Measles and Whooping Cough. The following table (Table X) shows the deaths from Measles and Whooping C'Ough for the last twulve years. TABLE X. Year. Measles Deaths. ! Whooping Cough Deaths. Rural. Urban. Administrative County. ^ Rural. Urban. Administrative County. 1902 00 08 128 1 44 7 51 190:i 29 42 71 i 29 47 70 1904 F / 7 14 : 44 09 1905 19 33 52 34 10 50 190() 10 20 30 32 1 39 1907 15 25 40 40 45 91 1908 19 15 34 21 0 27 1909 5 3 8 ! 10 24 40 1910 14 19 33 20 9 29 1911 15 10 25 32 21 53 1912 7 5 12 50 20 70 1913 42 02 104 * 19 1 7 26 1902-1913 248 309 557 i 308 253 021 Average deaths 21 20 40 1 21 52 per annum 1902-1913 Measles was very prevalent during the year and caused 104 deaths, the largest number since 1902. As many as 107 schools were closed for this disease while it con¬ tributed to the closure of seven other schools. The prevention of measles is one of the most difficult of public health problems and it cannot be said that any real success has been arrived at. The onset is insidious and the existence of the disease is often unrecognizable until after the child has been in¬ fectious for several days. The addition of this disease to the notifiable diseases is often