Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne.

  • Melbourne (Vic.). Health Committee.
Date:
[1925]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/28 (page 14)
    Period Under 5 Years 5-15 Years 15 Years and Over All Ages 1915-1924 (average) . . . . .. | 24.6 per cent. 51.2 per cent. 24.2 per cent. 100 1925 . . . j 23.3 per cent. 33.1 per cent. 43.6 per cent. 100 It is in the 5 to 15 year age group that the great bulk of work has been done, and it is therefore a source of gratification to record such a marked reduction for this group, which is mainly constituted of school children. The low mortality rate for 1925 is unique in the history of the City. The lowest number of deaths previously recorded for any year was 3, and this figure has occurred on two occasions only—viz., in 1900 and 1922—in the past thirty-nine years. It is not proposed to claim that the campaign against Diphtheria and the introduction of the Schick Test and Active Immunisation have been wholly responsible for the strikingly favourable incidence and mortality during 1925. Sufficient evidence has, I feel, been furnished to indicate that these newer measures of prevention are playing a not inconsiderable part in the reductions which have been shown. With the extension of the work amongst children of pre-school age and in institutions, still more favour¬ able results might be expected. TABLE II. Showing the Incidence, Mortality and Ca.se Fatality of Notified Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria and Typhoid Fever in the City for the following years:— SCARLET FEVER DIPHTHERIA TYPHOID FEVER Year Cases Deaths Case Fatality per cent. Cases 1898 106 — — 154 1899 56 — 84 1900 6 1 16.66 120 1901 15 1 6.66 91 1902 164 1 .61 122 1903 184 1 .54 110 1904 165 3 1.81 142 1905 28 — — 142 1906 23 — — 130 1907 11 — — 254 1908 85 — — 213 1909 346 13 3.75 194 1910 116 3 2.58 326 1911 35 1 2.85 485 1912 21 — 414 1913 14 — — 311 1914 38 — — 297 1915 62 1 1.61 463 1916 136 1 .73 581 1917 141 2 1.41 345 1918 160 1 .62 564 1919 M 3 3.57 298 1920 129 2 1.55 371 1921 167 — — 429 1922 112 2 1.78 268 1923 165 2 1.21 250 1924 226 2 .88 342 1925 89 2 2.24 163 Deaths Case Fatality per cent. Cases Deaths Case Fatality per cent. 18 12.68 237 27 11.39 10 11.90 164 16 9.75 3 2.50 118 16 13.56 4 4.39 86 8 9.30 5 4.09 92 9 9.84 5 4.54 69 5 7.24 12 8.45 58 6 10.34 4 2.81 33 2 6.06 9 6.92 95 8 8.42 13 5.11 34 3 8.82 7 3.28 113 3 2.65 7 3.60 90 9 10.0 10 3.06 178 8 4.49 16 3.29 51 9 17.64 32 7.73 52 6 11.54 18 5.78 53 5 9.43 15 5.05 36 5 13.88 23 4.96 23 5 1 21.77 29 4.99 23 4 17.39 11 3.18 18 3 16.66 10 1.77 11 2 18.18 22 7.38 8 1 12.50 10 ' 2.69 8 1 1 12.50 13 3.03 10 l j 10.0 3 1.12 8 ] l 12.50 11 4.40 10 l 10.0 9 2.63 10 l 10.0 1 .61 4 l 25.0 TYPHOID FEVER. Four cases, two in each sex, were notified, compared with 10 in 1924. This is the lowest number of cases ever reported in any one year. There was, as in the previous six years, only one death—a man aged 21 years. The number of cases is equivalent to an incidence rate of .03 per 1,000 of the estimated mean population, and is a record for the City. The death rate—.009 per 1,000—is the same as for 1924. One case occurred in a nurse employed in a public hospital. Three of the cases were admitted to hospital for treatment. The Council’s nurse paid six visits to the homes of cases in order to enforce measures for the prevention of the spread of infection, and to distribute the leaflet of precautions against the disease.