Volume 2

[Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Colchester Borough.

  • Colchester (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Colchester Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    •r......:.t’.,'.,/....... Durrant’s Press Cuttings, STABUSHED I860. CHIEF LONDON OFFICE* I— >7, HOLBORN VIADUCT, LONDON, E.C. (Humovtd frim 17, SouthnmpUrft 'Row). Cutting from th.d Dated April o(_ 1895 Address of Journal THE HEALTH OP THE BOROUGH OP COLCHESTER. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH. \\£: f; The annual report of Dr. Brown, tbe Medical Uincor or Health for the Borough (for the yeur euded Dec. 31, 1894), presented at the last meeting of the Town Council, gives a very interesting retrospect concerning the iuflueuces at work affecting the health of the Borough, and the means devised and carried out by the Council as the Sanitary Authority, to improve its sanitary condition, the successful result of these agencies in reducing the death rate ; also the mortality, with a cousideratiou of the ages, diseases and numbers of those who have died during the year. b GREAT DECLINE IN THE MORTALITY FOR THE YEAR. After alluding to the precautions taken to prevent the iutroductiou of cholera into the authority’s jurisdiction during the spring and summer, Dr. Brown remarks that there has beeu a great decline in the mortality for the year. The total number of deaths is 472, and notifications of infectious disease give 604. The deaths are less by 107 than for last year, and the notifications 448 less. The total death rate per mille is 12 98. “It is satisfactory to note,” says the report, “ this large decrease in the mortality and in the notification returns. They give a very favourable aspect of the healthiness of the town, and the care with which the epidemic diseases* are looked after. I am of opinion that all the ordinary fatal iufectious diseases ought to be compulsorily notified, as it gives the municipal authorities the only means of checkiug their progress in the initial stage, and moderating their severity as at epidemic, aud it also lessens the responsibility of municipal authorities as to the causation ol deaths from these diseases. Moreover, it gives a meam of educating the public to a sense of their obligation to their fellow citizens in protecting them from taking these diseases in their families, and -iu many case? f £ fcJ.eXi,DgU!8lh the,m altogether. The total numbei of deaths from these diseases is 30. Phthisis ought tc yrM _ ^ be included in the black list, as it would give you *0 GIOGjL. means of inspecting the houses where this scourst exists, and help to lessen its existence and extension, I he largest number of deiths during the months tool place in December, which gave 56, aud the smallest it September g.vmg 21 the average f er mensem bein, 39 3 in coutrast with 48*5 of the previous year. The total number of males who died was 248, and o' females 224, a difference in favour of the latter of 24 ihe deaths of aged persons from 70 to 80 were 5: (against 74 .n 1893), from 80 to 90, 33 (against 30)' and from 90 upwards, five (against two). Of the 47! over tthe> --u in tne hssex :ster Hospital), aud there fore deducting these the number is 461. The death' amongst residents, and taking 36,414 as the approxi- mate population of the Borough gives per mille 12*66. a rate which may compare favourably Xwith anv municipal Borough in the kingdom, and is a great im¬ provement of the comparatively low rate of the nreviouf year of 15 47. THE DISASTROUS RESULTS OF INFLUENZA. The deaths from scarlet fever, continued fever, and measles are blank for the year, and those from whooping cough and erysipelas (13 and one respectively) show most favourably in giving one death iu 26 6, and I one ,m 9° cases notified respectively, in contrast with I one in 24T and 12 5 of the previous year. It is not I surprising that phthisis especially (62 deaths against 50 m 1893) and bronchitis, &c. (87 cases against 82), should have a heavier death roll than the prewous year, owing no doubt to the djsastrous results of influenza, which has had a most disabling effect on the organs of respiration. The other remaining maladies in the list are 80 less than for 1893. The great reduction in the notification returns of continued fever is remarkable; this disease ought to be entirely eliminated from the class of zymotics. BIRTHS AND MARRIAGES. Tbe number of births has this year fallen from 1,002 of last year to 995. a difference of 7. The marriages tor 1” year are 283> an addition of 13 over 1893, which gave c 10, INFECTIONS. The houses and surroundings where infectious disease.existed have been scrupulously inspected by the banitary Inspector, and as each notification came in means were taken by him to ascertain its source, aud disinfectants and other means taken t-> prevent its ex¬ tension. There is still a great deal of carelessness and indifference amongst some of the population with regard to preventing the spread of these diseases, especially in the case of whooping cough, but a nreat improvement can be observed, since tbe Notification Act came into force, amongst the great body of the population. The local Inspector of Factories and Outworkers has beeu most assiduous io his duties and has brought to notice a great amount of informal tion with regard to the state of the premises in spected, the condition in which especially the domestic workshops are kept, with details as to the sanitation, cubic space, and ventilation, which has Deen of use in rectifying many defects. THE INFECTIOUS HOSPITAL. Twenty-six cases were admitted to the Authority’s I Infectious Hospital at Myland during the year vi/ ■ -D.phthena 3, scarlet fever 14, typhoid or enteric It ver 3, erysipelas 1, quarantine cases 5. The three ' cases of diphtheria caine from Old Heath—a father thl, f° Chldr?“' Thcre was little h“Pe saving them from their entrance inti the Hospital, as the diedaSeTifS K a ',ery Jnalit'nant ‘ype. and they all died. ,The bouse in which they lived was in a de- plorably msamtary state, and the well from which they took their drinking water was very foul. The other cases made good recoveries. The quarantine cases Sfi V households where there was no means of efficient isolation, and in this way they escaped the beenT' *he Iuf0ct'0us Hospital has son has bL,“,Pr0V.ed-JThe Matron- Miss Richard- and manager ^ SedU'°US in her duties “ -rse DEATHS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. The deaths in public Institutions are Essex and Colchester Hospital 31 (against 31 in 1893), Work- house 34 (against 38), Eastern Counties’ Asylum 10 against 9), Infectious Hospital 3 (against 1), the total, 78, being one less than last year. K ° INQUESTS. The number of inquests for the year is cominra- t.vely small, being only 33 in numb/r, against?n 1893. They were classified as under—Natural causes 22, accidental 9, suicidal 2.” IMMENSE PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. Au°hor^TlaPbopese'haieU not be^UthouT ttir re! ever yet been recorded in its annals, and '1894 inay be fl.lv termed an Annus Mirubilis, so far as its sanitary 'ts,com,Pariso with past years, „r oven 1th the death rate of the whole country It gi,v- the very small figure uf 12 66 for each thousand of the :84i!L#'lV4n OUV-alf ^ for 'ho years between aud 1850, and is six less than that between 1881 and 189°- There^iTbe^<rdoubt, the report con~ t8at,.thls immense progress and improvement ' ln th? ma‘n to the continuous and constant hands a“„r?a|.ahltary matt?rs receive at «>e Authority’s citadels of !bs repeatfd as.sa“ «aS0d against the threatened anh ,D d,‘.fferent localities have threatened and destroyed many lives in the past. THE DRAINAGE OF OLD HEATH. L drainage of Old Heath approaches completion fend this long neglected spot, which lay like a sin ml volcano, W‘U no longer threaten the lives of its inhabitants with an eruption of gases more dangerous than those of Etna or Vesuvius. Six cases of typhoid were reported there during the year, and one person III™’ three persons were also attacked by diphtheria of a malignant nature, ond all died. Mr. Goodyear (Borough Surveyor) has carried out his drainage work in a mowt thorough and efficient manner. \