[Report 1896] / Medical Officer of Health, Stratford-upon-Avon Borough, Stratford-upon-Avon R.D.C., Marston Sicca R.D.C.

  • Stratford-upon-Avon (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1896] / Medical Officer of Health, Stratford-upon-Avon Borough, Stratford-upon-Avon R.D.C., Marston Sicca R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A reference to table A will show what proportion of deaths occurred in the public institutions situated in Stratford-on-Avon. Infantile Death-Rate. Thirty-six deaths were those of children under one year of age, and the infantile death-rate is 169 per 1,000 births registered, or nearly 17 per cent. This rate is unusually high, and the prevalence of measles and whooping-cough has been an important factor in its production. Zymotic Death-Rate. Zymotic disease (smallpox, measles, whoop¬ ing-cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria [and membranous croup], fever and diarrhoea) is accountable for twenty-one deaths, the numbers from each disease being given in table A. The zymotic death-rate is 2‘4 per 1,000. Respiratory Diseases Death-Rate. Excluding phthisis, the rate from this disease is 2 6 per 1,000. Phthisis Death-Rate. 1'5 per 1,000. Cancer Death-Rate. 07 per 1,000. \\ hether phthisis and cancer are actually on the increase to a marked extent, or whether their alleged increase is mainly due to more precise diagnosis, is a matter of much interest, and for this reason an exact annual estimate seems desirable. The mere fact that with the advance of sanitation more persons live to the age when these diseases are most liable to be incurred than was formerly the case brings it about that these two diseases, like all diseases of adult life, have theoretically a possibility of increase. MORTALITY AND SICKNESS. Smallpox. No case of this has been notified in the year. A reference to the report to the Rural District Council, which is printed with this report, will show that on one occasion ample opportunity existed to contract the infection of smallpox in the town. Scarlet Fever. As is shown in Table B there were thirty-seven cases of scarlet fever, all of which were promptly removed for isolation purposes. One death from the disease occurred, the patient coming from Shottery. Although it is a matter of congratulation that the disease was almost invariably present in a mild form yet this very condition of affairs is responsible for the difficulty experienced in keeping the complaint from becoming widely prevalent. Some cases of the disease which were isolated were only demonstrated to be actually fever cases by repeated inspection and by the exercise of much vigilance on the part of the medical attendant