[Report 1906] / Medical Officer of Health, Luton County Borough.
- Luton (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1906
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1906] / Medical Officer of Health, Luton County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Hospital tor Infectious Diseases*—The Scarlet Fever Wards have been in use practically all the year: the Typoid ones to a very moderate extent. The Small Pox Wards again have not been in request for such cases, but have been utilised on a few occasions for others. Had a case of small pox occurred the occupants would have been immediately removed to the typhoid wards which were not then occupied, or to their homes by arrangement, in two cases in which scarlet fever had occurred in measles houses. We could not put these two cases in the scarlet fever wards until all danger of measles was passed. Small pox isolation is so essential that we shottld have refused typhoid cases for a time if the necessity had arisen. Our action may appear at cimes capricious but it is always founded on necessity. Infectious Diseases—advice as to*—Advice was given as to closing and re-opening the schools before mentioned, and other matters connected therewith. Complaints in the East Ward•—I have been in communication with the Borough Engineer regarding th’s subject and find that he has the matter well in hand. Sanitary Ret/uirementSm—The sanitary requirements, as it were of yesterday, may be satisfied, but to-day others more than loom on the horizon and one or two demand early recognition. Of the six I am about to mention, the first four have only, comparatively recently, been rather generally recognised as advisable. (1) . Provision for cases of Phthisis. (2) . Special endeavour to check the excessive infant mortality. (3) . Medical examination of school children. (4) . Instruction of the older children in hygiene, &c. (5) . Some accommodation for Diphtheria. (6) . Superior accommodation for Scarlet Fever cases. I have fully alluded to the 1st requirement under the heading of Phthisis, and of the 2nd under that of Infant Mortality as also of numbers 3 and 4. There is only one objection to treating Diphtheria at our Fever Hospital and that is the distance of the Hospital from the Borough, further still, in a way, by reason of the long hill to be traversed. The 6th requirement explains itself. Last year on summing up I was able to give a rose-colour report which it will be seen was quite justified, at any rate by comparison with the present one. Death rate 13*6 (1905) against 15*8 (1906) | Zymotic rate 0*04 (1905) against 3*0 (1906) Infant rate 120*6 1905, against 143*8 1906. Number of Phthisis cases 40 (1905) against 44 (1906), Number of Cancer cases 38 (1905) against 47 (1909). The notification of Infectious Diseases too, which last year was the lowest since the adoption of the Act, was 92 only against 345 this year. The only exception is the birth rate which was 27*1 last and 28*] this year. I have endeavoured in this report to bring many matters up-to-date, and I hope, thougdi you may think it rather a long one, you will not find it uninteresting or unprofitable reading. I thank all my brother officials for their kind and hearty co-operation, and you, Gentlemen, for your kind consideration. I am, Gentlemen, Yours obediently, HORACE SWORDER.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29746735_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
