[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.

    6/36 (page 6)
    Puenieral Fever. Erysipelas. Wboopirif' CouRh. Diiirrluea. Rbouniatic Fever. Phthisis. One (leiitli occupied in the Chadsnioor ward, against 2 recorded for the wliolo di.strict in the preceding year. None. Thi-ee deatli.s occurred in the Cannock waixl, and one in the Hcdne.sl’ord ward—total, 4—all under o yeai’S, giving a death i-ate pei- 1000 of -18, as against ‘36 for the preceding year. 'rwenty-uine deatlis, all under 5, have occurred from tliis disease, .seven being in the Cannock ward, six in the Hednosford waid, and sixteen in the Chadsmoor ward. Tlie death i-ate per 1000 from this disease is 1’3, as again.st 1‘18 for the preceding year. It will be noted that out of tliis number 24 deaths occurred in children under 1 year old, and the factors of summer heat and dietary errors in the causation of this disease ha\e been refemed to in my remarks on infantile mortality. One death, over 5 yeai-s, occurred in the Chadsmoor ward, against a similar number recorded for the whole district in the preceding year. Eight deaths occun-ed in the Cannock wai-d, four in the Hednesford ward, five in the Chadsmoor ward, and one in the Workhouse—total, 18 —with a ratio of ’81 per 1000, and of which 15 o<;curred over 5 years, against 11 for the ]n’ccodlug year with a I'atio of '5. Of these deaths recorded, tAvo were miners and one an edge tool gi'inder. Though the above number of deaths is what has been actually certified, still it may be shreAvdly susijected that some of the respiratory and abdominal diseases of infancy have been affected by tuberculosis without showing symptoms of the disease dming life, and hence the vital importance of sterilising milk by boiling for artificially fed infants where the source of supply is not known or may ])ossibly be tubercular, as it appeai-s to be well founded that the ))revalence of this disease in infancy and chddhood is due to infection through the alimentary canal by milk from tuberculous cows. According to Sir llichard '1 borne Thorne the mean death rate from tabes moscnterica or abdominal phthisis in England and Walt .-, among infants under 1 year of age pci- million living is 4.04(5 for the years 1891-1895 I hein-evention of phthisis or tubcrciilosi.^ is more clearly recognised every year as a matter of the highest im- jiortance.