[Report 1898] / Medical Officer of Health, Cannock U.D.C.

  • Cannock (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1898] / Medical Officer of Health, Cannock U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (3) Chadsmoor Ward.—In Hightown and Chad.smoor 42 cases occuri-ed in 28 houses; in Wimblebmy, 19 cases in 13 houses ; in Heatli Hayes, 20 ca.sc.s in 11 houses ; and in the outlying portions of the ward one case occurred; the total for this \va:-d being 82 cases in 53 houses. The sum total of scarlatinal notifications for the whole district is 21G, the.se cases occurring in 136 houses. It will be noted that there is a gieat reduction in scarlatina cases compared with the previous year. The great majority of the notifications occun-ed in the January and February months, so that by the end of the Mai'ch quarter the epidemic had practically subsided, and only 10 cases of tlie disease had been notified during the last six months of the yeai‘. In January the epidemic affected chiefly Bndgtovvn, Cannock, and Chad.smoor, and my only alternative measure in les.sening it was the closure of the Bridgtowii Chuifh Schools and the WaLsall Road Board Schools for one month. The re-opening of the Cannock Xational and Catholic Schools and the Chadsmoor Xational and Board Schools was also postponed foi- another month for the same cause. 1 have ah’eady dealt in my pi-evious annual i‘ej)Oi’ts with the question of the ])rovision of an Isolation Hospital necessary for effectively checking the sjiread of this disease when it breaks out in a crjwded mining district like the Cannock Urban. The case mortality has been at the low rate of I'8 per cent.—the i-ate for the ]n'eceding year being 2'4 per cent. Diphthprin. Only one case has been notified throughout the yeai-, and this occurred in Heath Hayes, where was found evidence of defective drainage. This distilct, fortunately, is remarkably free from diphtheria, only 11 cases having been notified for the past five yeai’s. The dry, gravelly subsoil of the district generally will probably account for this immunity. Still it is a matter of satisfaction that for the diagnosis of this disease the County Council have arranged with the Council of Mason College, Birmingham, for the bactei-iological examination, at the cost of the County, of secretions or membrane taken from the throats of patients suspected of di])htheria. The medical ])rac- titioners obtain the necessary apparatus for the collection and des})atch of the susjtected material from the ^Medical Officer of Health of the district in which the patient resides.