[Report 1897] / Medical Officer of Health, Doncaster County Borough.

  • Doncaster (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1897] / Medical Officer of Health, Doncaster County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    164/168 (page 24)
    Last year the deaths among very young children were equal to rather more than 18 per cent, of the registered births, that is considerably above the usual average. One death of a stranger was registered on the Coroner’s certificate, 4 deaths of persons aged 75, 64, 56 years and 2 days were returned as not certified either by a Doctor or Coroner. Cases of During 1897 seven cases of infectious diseases w^ere notified, Enteric Fever one wag a cage 0£ scaiqet fever and six were cases of enteric or typhoid fever. The first of the latter cases had been nursing cases of enteric fever away from Tickhill, and was reported on the 30th August. She died on the 21st September. The sanitary arrangements at the house where she was attacked were satisfactory, the well water which was used for drinking was not analysed. The second case was reported on October 18th, the patient was a lodger. Eight days after reaching Tickhill he was ill with “headache and diarrhoea,” and typhoid was notified on the 16th day. These particulars show that it was probable that the disease was contracted before the man came to Tickhill. The house at which the case was reported was ill fitted for nursing a case of infectious disease. An unsuccessful attempt was made to have the patient removed to a suitable hospital in a neigh- bouring district, and a nurse was then engaged. Three of the remaining four cases were reported from one house in November and December, the fourth was a near neighbour. The origin of the first of these latter cases could not be satis- factorily explained. The patient had nursed her mother through an illness which ended fatally in the end of October, the death was certified as due to bronchitis. The sanitary con- ditions close to the house, arising from manure and liquid filth, were far from satisfactory. The water from the well on these premises on analysis was found to be very greatly fouled by organic impurities. This limited outbreak again emphasises the fact that cases of enteric fever are undoubtedly infectious. I suggested to the sanitary inspector in October, and also in a report to the District Council in November, that sanitary pails should be provided in order to prevent the infection being spread by infected matters which are otherwise thrown into the midden privies or the drains. Last month one of the nurses who attended several of these returned to Doncaster ailing, her illness developed as enteric fever in a few days, and she unfortunately died, well waters The water supply for Tickhill is obtained from wells which are sunk in one half of the town in a subsoil of sand and gravel, in the other half in the upper layers of the magnesian limestone. I last year analysed two well waters, both were unsatis- factory, and not safe to drink. While inspecting houses in Westgate another well water intended for the use of four houses was seen to be very much polluted, that case I reported in August.