Mr W. H. Power's report to the local government board on an outbreak of diphtheria at the village of Bleadon, in the Axbridge rural sanitary district.

  • Power, W. H.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr W. H. Power's report to the local government board on an outbreak of diphtheria at the village of Bleadon, in the Axbridge rural sanitary district. 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.

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    Mr. W, H. Power’s Report to the Local Government Board on an outbreak of Diphtheria at the Village of Bleadon, in the Axbridge Rural Sanitary District. George Buchanan, Assistant Medical Officer, May 5, 1879. In the Return of the Registrar General for the fourth quarter of 1878, fifteen -deaths from diphtheria are reported as having occurred in the Burnham sub-district of the Axbridge Union. All these deaths, it is stated in a foot note, occurred in the parish of Bleadon; and all, except one, were registered as malignant sore throat. The data thus furnished gave occasion for the present inquiry. On my arrival in the district it soon became evident that the disease in question had been gemiine diphtheria. Not only was the clinical history of fatal cases precisely that of diphtheria, but many persons at the time of my visit convalescent from throat illness exhibited various neuroses characteristic of the specific disease. As is not uncommon with epidemic diphtheria the present outbreak comprised cases of all degrees of severity, varying from what under other circumstances might have been regarded as trivial sore throat to diphtheria in its worst and most rapidly-fatal form. Altogether inquiry at Bleadon has extended to 24 invaded households, including 68 cases. All of these cases (except two in a family at the hamlet of Shiplate) occurred between early October 1878 and mid-March of the present year in one village, Bleadon, which has (as ascertained by inquiry) in 102 houses a popu- lation of 411 persons. Thus, in this village, one in five of the households, and one in six of the population, have in less than six months been invaded by diphtheria. The deaths from the disease, 17 in number, have in the same period amounted to one in every six of the households, and one in every 23 of the population. The village of Bleadon is situated at the base, and on the southern slopes, of a limestone range (Bleadon hills), which on the northern bank of the river Axe, near to its estuary, rises abruptly from an alluvial plain (Burnham Level). The village, somewhat scattered along two roads, crossing one another at right angles about its centre, extends from east to west upwards of a mile, and from north to south about half that distance. The Dwellings, though perhaps one half of them are little if at all above the level of the alluvial plain, are for the most part situate on the rock. Except a few farmhouses, the rectory, inn, &c., dwellings are of the cottage class. They are built of stone, with thatched or tiled roofs. Many are old, small, and dilapidated. Frequently old dwellings do not possess back windows, or such windows as they have are not made to open. Several of these old and tumbledown cottages have been closed. Most cottages have gardens, often of considerable size. Water Supply.-—-This is almost wholly from wells, which probably all get their supply from the same water stratum, the depth of the well varying xvith its elevation above marsh level. In the centre of the village, and on the roads leading north and east of it, wells are deep and scarce, and most persons resort (many of them very long distances) to the parish well,—a draw well some fifteen feet deep situated within some 30 yards of the churchyard, below it and directly in its line of natural drainage to the marsh. South and west of the village on low land bordering on the marsh wells are numerous, and most dwellings have their own. Commonly, these wells are dip or draw wells, a few only being fitted with pumps. Of the 102 households in the village between 30 and 40 resort for water to the parish well, while the remainder are supplied from their own or from neighbours’ wells. A few only admit obtaining water from the marsh dykes. L 441. Wt. B 49. A