Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria in the Enfield Urban District and on sanitary administration by the Urban District Council.

  • Wheaton, S. W.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria in the Enfield Urban District and on sanitary administration by the Urban District Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    manhole placed on it. At Brigadier Hill, a road containing few houses, nine cases have occurred. Although there is a sharp fall in the road, examination of the sewer in it showed that the fluid in the upper portion was almost stagnant, the sewer either having been laid with insufficient fall or having subsided owing to settlement of the ground. The manhole on this sewer contained much offensive solid deposit. Other multiple unwholesome con- ditions were found at the invaded houses with two exceptions. Many other similar descriptions could be given of streets in this area. In the Ordnance Road area, the incidence on particular roads has not been so heavy as in Chase Side. In Standard Road, in this area, 15 cases have occurred. With two exceptions, examination on the occurrence of diphtheria disclosed unwhole- some conditions on the premises. The house drains here are known to be very defective, and many have from time to time become blocked. In many instances notice has been served on the owners to relay them, but the work is not yet completed. The houses are in many instances very damp, being built of sandy bricks, with absence of spouting for the back ])iemises and for the bay Avindows in front. The two sewers in this road are very defective. They have been laid in sections from time to time Avitli- out proper levelling. Each starts from the middle of the road, and they are supposed to flow in opposite directions. It is evident that in one case the selvage is stagnant in the sewer, and is probably escaping into the subsoil. The other is not much better in gradient, and filth was accumulated in the inspecting manhole placed on it. In Bradley Road, which is an adjoining and parallel road, and where eight cases have occurred, the conditions, both of houses and sewer are, if anything, more unsatisfactory. There can be little doubt that there is much leakage from the sewer which runs along the backs of the houses and which contained stagnating offensive sewage. Many other like instances could be given. It will therefore be seen that there are two conditions which characterise these two areas in which diphtheria has been epidemic, namely, dampness, and infiltration of the subsoil of and around dwellings by organic filth. As the result of an inspection of the whole urban district I have come to the conclusion that these con- ditions do not prevail in other portions to anything at all approaching a like extent. These tAvo conditions are, lioAvevej-, always present in these two areas, and if they Avere instrumental in producing diphtheria their increased potency must be found in some factors Avhich came into action in the autumn of 1908. In this connection reference must be made to the meteorological con- ditions at Enfield in the autumn of the year 1908 already detailed. These were exceptional, and concerned both rainfall and temperature. Heavy rainfall Avas experienced in the last half of August and up to September 5th, and must have carried much organic filth into the ground from the surface of yards and from defective leaking house drains and sewers, as Avell as increased the general dampness, and probably also caused a quick rise in the level of the ground Avater. This period of rainfall Avas accomjjanied by a lowering of temperature, and diphtheria Avas not unusually preA ii- lent during its persistence. The cases notified in the five Aveeks