[Report 1875] / Medical Officer of Health, Berkshire Combined Sanitary District.

Berkshire Combined Sanitary District.

Date:: 1875

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1875] / Medical Officer of Health, Berkshire Combined Sanitary District. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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drainage and water supply is exceedingly unsatisfactory; but in both these respects no effectual remedy can be applied under present conditions. There can be no question as to the neces- sity that exists for the provision of properly constructed sewers and of a water supply for the area under the control of both urban authorities, and it would probably be found practicable (as it certainly is very desirable) to include some parts of the rural district also. Of the 45 nuisances reported 38 have been abated, of which 24 related to the keeping of swine and to slaughterhouses, &c. Four analyses of drinking water have been made: the whole were found by me to be fouled by sewage, and three of them to a large extent. Thirty -six deaths took place during the year in the popula- tion of about 1,100: eight of these w'ere infants and three children under five years of age, 15 were persons above 65. The only zymotic disease that proved fatal in more than one instance was scarlet fever, of which several cases occurred in the autumn months (in connection with the outbreak that took place at the time in the rural districts and to some extent in the town) resulting in three deaths. In one case the child had lived in a court consisting of several miserable tenements deficient in every sanitary requirement and with a water supply of excep- tional impurity. The owner expressed his willingness to do what was practicable to put them into a better state, and several of them were temporarily closed until the works were carried out, two being condemned as unfit for habitation and past improvement. Five deaths were recorded as caused by phthisis as against none in the preceding year, and one resulted from simple fever. The mortality from other diseases does not call for any special remark, but it should be noted that the total death rate for the year reaches the extremely high figure of 33*4 per 1,000, being nearly twice as large as it should have been.