Dr. Blaxall's report upon the long continued prevalence of diphtheria in the urban sanitary district of Taunton, and on the sanitary condition of the town / [F.H. Blaxall].

  • Blaxall, F. H.
Date:
[1883]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Blaxall's report upon the long continued prevalence of diphtheria in the urban sanitary district of Taunton, and on the sanitary condition of the town / [F.H. Blaxall]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/16 page 3
    The Urban and Rural authorities have provided an excellent “ sanitary hospital,” situated just outside the borough. The buildings consist of four ward blocks with 24 beds, an administrative block, disinfecting chamber, wash-house, laundry, mortuary, and ambulance shed. The charge of the hospital, both administrative and professional, is confided to the Medical Officer of Health, who receives an extra honorarium for these duties. Epidemic of Diphtheria. During the recent epidemic, the first case of which I have any record occurred m October 1881, and from that time fresh cases appeared m each month up to December 1882, invading in all 127 houses, with 215 cases and 53 deaths. It may be premised that the presence of diphtheria in Taunton is no new experience. The subjoined table of mortality statistics, abstracted from the returns of the Medical Officer of Health, showing the disease to have been fatally present in the town in each of the years 1870, 1872, 1876, 1877, and 1881, prevailing in an epidemic form in 1870 when it caused 15 deaths. Table 1.—Mortality Statistics for the Thirteen Years, 1870-1882. Year. Small-pox. Measles. Scarlatina. Diphtheria. Whooping- cough. Fever. Diarrhoea. Total Deaths from the given Zy- moticDiseases. Total Mortality. 1870 * m • _ 1 4 15 1 18 23 62 400 1871 - - - — 4 18 — 6 9 10 47 334 1872 - - - 20 5 17 1 3 11 9 46 354 1873 - - - — — 3 — 8 1 6 18 270 1874 - - - — 9 2 — 5 9 9 34 309 1875 - - - — — — — — 6 14 20 321 1876 - - - — — 35 1 — 8 11 55 335 1877 - - - — 5 7 2 19 7 11 51 348 1878 - - - — 25 —- — 3 5 16 49 350 1879 - - - — 1 1 — 18 4 8 32 387 1880 - - - — 1 2 — 7 2 14 26 311 1881 - - - — 32 1 4 7 1 6 51 347 1882 — -• — 2 3 39 8 2 8 62 396 Total - - 20 85 93 62 85 83 145 553 4,462 In like manner, as regards the surrounding villages, the Medical Officer of Health reports diphtheria as present in 1877 at Cheddon and West Monkton, two villages situated about two or three miles to the north-east of Taunton. In 1878 he reports three deaths from diphtheria at Halse, about seven miles to the north-west of Taunton, stating that the disease prevailed in that village for some time, and was spread by infection. In 1879 one death, adding a few cases of diphtheria, came under notice, but he does not say where they occurred. In 1880 six deaths, but there is no observation respecting them. In 1881 (September, October, and November) he reports diphtheria as epidemic at Corfe, a village about three miles to the south of Taunton, resulting in four deaths, and he refers the spread of the disease to the agency of the schools. At the same time two or three cases of diphtheria appeared at Trull, a village midway between Taunton and Corfe. This brings us to the time of the epidemic at Taunton, which dates, as already stated, from October 1881. In this month two cases occurred in the town, the disease continuing to prevail from that time to December 1882, invading in all 127 families, with a total of 215 cases and 53 deaths, including, that is, 10 deaths in 1882 in excess of the number given in the above Table, but, as will be pre¬ sently shown, they were due to this epidemic, although not given in the returns of the Medical Officer of Health. Some of the 215 cases were returned by the medical men as “ diphtheritic sore throat,” intending thereby to distinguish them from cases of a more severe and typical character. There was concurrent testimony amongst all classes as to the general and continued prevalence of sore throat throughout the town; while the surgeons of the general hospital told me that amongst their out-patients many who came for advice presented such a suspicious appearance of impending diphtheria that they forbad their attendance there, urging them to go home and send for medical advice. It was no uncommon thing to hear from infected families that prior to their own attack their friends or neighbours had suffered from sore throat, and upon my making inquiry of these latter persons it appeared that their illness had been of so mild a character that no medical A 2 Infectious hospital. Provision.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3