[Report 1896] / Medical Officer of Health, Penzance U.D.C. / Borough.
- Penzance (England). Urban District Council.
- Date:
- 1896
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1896] / Medical Officer of Health, Penzance U.D.C. / Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[4] were during the year removed to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, where each remained for a period of seven weeks. Both were of the mildest character, and were in due course discharged convalescent. Seven cases of Erysipelas, six of Diphtheria, and five of Typhoid Fever were notified. As stated above, no deaths occurred from either. These complete the list of notifiable diseases throughout the year. Five deaths were attributed to Whooping Cough, five to Diarrhoea, and one to Influenza. This exhausts the year’s list of zymotic disorders. Measures taken. The method of dealing with Infectious cases, in addition to removal to Hospital, has included visitations by your Sanitary Officers, the issue of cautionary notices and of verbal advice, exclusion from schools of children of infected households, and such after-cleansing and disinfection as have been necessary. The disinfectants supplied have been Perchloride of Mercury Solution (one in 1000), Sanitas, Jeye’s Fluid and Powder, Carbolic, Condy, Lime, Sulphur Fumigation, and the Dry-heat Chamber. Hospital Accommodation. The Hospital at present in use is improperly situated (being too near to dwelling- houses), is too small for possible needs in emergency, and is—by reason of the close attachment of the rooms—unfitted for the treatment of more than one kind of infectious disease at a time. Our Tent, when erected on the new Hospital Ground outside the Borough, has proved a most valuable supplement in time of need; but the possibility of its use must be at all times dependent upon the weather. The plans of your proposed new Infectious Diseases Hospital show proper provision in an admirable situation for the reasonable needs of the Town and neighbourhood, and it is to be hoped that their exact form will be speedily settled to the satisfaction of yourselves and of the Local Government Board, and that the buildings will be completed without delay. The proposed erection on the same premises of a Steam Disinfector will provide a necessary addition to the sanitary equipment of the Borough. Comparison with previous Years. Looking through the Annual Reports of your late Medical Officer of Health from 1880 onwards, I find that the birth-rate for 1896 is among the higher and the death- rate among the. lower recorded. Indeed, there is only one death-rate recorded lower than the corrected death-rate for 1896. I have not succeeded in finding records of the zymotic death-rate, or ot the infantile mortality, prior to 1895. Here the corresponding rates for 1895 and 1896 are (1895) -zymotic death-rate, 2-2; ditto (1896), roq; infantile mortality (deaths under one year old per 1000 births) (1895), 2377 ; ditto (1896), 1517. The improvement in the latter rate during 1896 is very marked. I gather, too, from the records of previous years that the list for 1896 of deaths from pulminary diseases is exceptionally light.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29986643_0011.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
