Dr. H. F. Parson's report to the local government board on the sanitary condition of the Stourbridge registration district, and on the late prevalence of scarlet fever therein.

  • Parsons, H. F.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. H. F. Parson's report to the local government board on the sanitary condition of the Stourbridge registration district, and on the late prevalence of scarlet fever therein. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    3/26 (page 3)
    <233 a and from diarrhoea, diseases of which the propagation or occurrence is especially brought about by local unwholesome conditions, such as cause the air, soil, and drinking water to be polluted with excremental filth. In localities in which such conditions are commonly met with, these latter diseases are often continually present. When in the subsequent pages of this report the sanitary circumstances of some parts of the district, and particularly of certain places in the Stourbridge Rural district, come to be described, it will bo perceived that the conditions above spoken of are only too widely prevalent. The following table shows the average annual ratio of deaths from “ fever ” and diarrhoea per 1,000 populatation in each of the sanitary districts com- prised in the Stourbridge Registration district, in the six years 1874-79 : — Districts. Death-rates per 1,000 population per annum. “ Fever.” Diarrhoea. Stourbridge Rural - Worcestershire division - Staffordshire divisioni Stourbridge Urban - Brierley Hill Urban Quarry Bank Urban 0-56 o-ih 0-32 0-15 0-35 0-32 1-05 1-21 ()•$/, 1-01 0 • 50* 0-32 * Average of two years 1878-9 only. The mortality among infants is also high in the Stourbridge Registration district. I am unable to give separate statistics for the several sanitary districts. The principal causes of death among infants are diarrhoea, bronchitis, “ convulsions,” wasting diseases of children, (e.g. “ marasmus,” “ atrophy,” “ tabes mesenterica,” &c.) and morbid conditions connected with birth. One of the local medical officers of health gives it as his opinion that “ the large “ proportion of deaths in children is, no doubt, attributable to the great “ ignorance which prevails among mothers on the subjects of nursing and “ diet, to the administration of improper and non-nutritions food, to in- “ sufficient clothing and protection from cold, and to the breathing of “ impure air.” Scarlet Fever.—The epidemic of scarlet fever which was the immediate cause of the present investigation being made, had at the time of inspection almost completely subsided, only a few cases of the disease still existing in the district, which indeed is never wholly free from it, deaths from this cause having been registered in every quarter as far back at least as the beginning of 1872. as the following table taken from the Quarterly Returns of the Registrar General shows. Deaths from Scarlet Fever in Stourbridge Registration District. In Quarters ending Years. 1872. 1873. 1S74. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1S78. 1879. March 31 - 9 40 40 8 2 5 44 37 June 30 - 9 26 13 8 8 9 47 11 September 30 0 19 22 8 4 6 110 13 December 31 - 14 36 50 4 18 32 92 18 Year - 37 121 125 28 32 52 293 79 It will be seen that scarlet fever was at a low point in 1872, but became more widely prevalent in 1873-74; after the somewhat sudden cessation of this outbreak it remained comparatively quiescent for nearly three years, during which time children unprotected against the disease by a former attack must have accumulated, and have formed material for another [out- break.