Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the Colony on the public health ... / Cape of Good Hope.

  • Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Department of Public Health.
Date:
[1906]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the Colony on the public health ... / Cape of Good Hope. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    152/300 (page 84)
    water to the village have now arrived, and the work will he completed during the present year. Recommends that more attention be paid to street sweeping. ' •: COLESBERG. Coles kero (Municipality). Water-supply good, abundant, and not liable to pollution; by means of a.bore¬ hole and windmill pump recently erected supply has been considerably increased for irrigation purposes; water is delivered into a reservoir, containing 300,000 gallons. All sanitary arrangements receive constant attention; Health of town fair. No further alterations to report. CRADOCK. 1. Cradock (Municipality). Water-supply from springs, eight miles from town, brought in and distributed in pipes. Sanitary removals on pail system carried out by Municipality daily when re¬ quired ; all removals covered over daily, and lime used. Refuse removed weekly, or oftener, by Council. 2. Marais burg (Municipality). Water-supply and sanitary removal system as formerly described. One case of Enteric and one of Diphtheria. Two shambles have been erected outside village by Council, where local butchers are compelled to slaughter. A system of meat inspection is being car¬ ried out. A windmill and tank erected on Market Square for water-supply, the tank being thoroughly closed up to prevent pollution. EAST LONDON. 1. East London (Municipality).—Dr. R. J. Rottlston, Health Officer, Reports population believed to be the same as in 1904, viz.: Euro¬ peans, 14,674; Other, 10,546; total, 25,220. Births: European, 511; Other, 291. Birth-rate per thousand: European, 34-08; Other, 27-5; total, 31'8. Deaths: European, 156; Other, 185. Death-rate per thousand: European, 10-5; Other, 17-5; total, 13-5. Premature births and deaths from accident: European, 15; Other, 11. Death-rate of children under one year, per thousand births : European, 97*5; Coloured, 235'9. Twenty European and 28 Coloured children under one year died from Gastro-Intestinal diseases. The number of deaths among children under one year from diseases of the Gastro-Intestinal canal is 7‘1 of the entire death-rate; chiefly among poor whites and Coloured, who feed their children on condensed milk and pay little attention to cleanliness, augmented by damp and dirty surroundings during the heat of summer. Tuberculosis in all its forms caused 46 deaths, or 7'4 of the total deaths. These cases usually come under notice during the last stage of the disease; frequently they keep moving about from one house to another, and especially in the case of poor whites and Natives, living in overcrowded rooms, spitting on the floor, etc., spreading infection. The inmates are notified by Sanitary Department of infectious nature of disease, and of precaution ary measures. Total notifications, 125—53 of Enteric, 17 of Diphtheria, 3 of Small-pox, and 37 of Tuberculosis; of these the following were imported from outside the Muni¬ cipal area : Enteric Eever 6, Small-pox 1, Tuberculosis 12. There is a marked de¬ crease in the number of Enteric Fever cases ; no case of this disease has been traced to wrater, milk or food. The more probable causes are: (1) The Quigney culvert, which runs through the Railway Reserve. A few cases of Enteric Eever occurred among the labourers when making it, which shows that the ground is contaminated. This culvert should have a proper concrete egg-shaped bottom. (2) The Lime Kiln sluit. Course is tortuous and the bottom rough and uneven, with result that water accumulates in pools ; it should be straightened, a : ' concrete egg-shaped bottom constructed, and the adjacent hollows filled in ■ - and if need be disinfected. ’ (3) Subsoil drainage no doubt plays an important part. There was an old vlei in the Quigney, which was filled in and sold as building lots without being drained, although this was recommended.