[Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Peterborough City & Borough.

  • Peterborough (England). City & Borough Council.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Peterborough City & Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Scarlet Fever. 217 notifications, 1 death. This disease has been generally prevalent since May, following the usual course of Scarlet Fever, in the form of triennial epidemics. The day schools appear to be the chief medium for disseminating infection. In five schools I discovered children in attendance from houses where the disease had not been detected ; in order to prevent such careless¬ ness on the part of parents, the Education Committee have issued a certificate to be signed by a duly qualified practitioner, stating the nature of the illness, when a scholar has been absent more than 7 days. I hope this regulation, if thoroughly carried out, will materi¬ ally assist in checking the spread of infection. As the result of 4 years observation I have no hesitation in ex¬ pressing a decided opinion in favor of the removal of Scarlet Fever patients to the Sanatorium, as the best method of preventing in¬ fection ; but to be thoroughly effectual, there must be no delay: When the disease is recognized early, the sufferer at once removed, and the room disinfected, no other cases occur in the house, where¬ as under the old regime everyone in the house was as a rule attacked. That such a course is possible is shown by the fact that only 1^ hours has sometimes elapsed between the time the rash was diag¬ nosed and the arrival of the patient in the Sanatorium. I have purposely somewhat elaborated this subject, to draw the attention of Parents and Medical Practitioners to the importance of prompt action. Diphtheria. 43 notifications, 1 deaths: I am glad to report a decided decrease in the number of cases of Diphtheria, and that the type of disease was mild in character. This improvement is I think due to the care with which the automatic flushing of the sewers is arranged, they are moreover better ventilated and period¬ ically cleared of sediment ; house drains too are where necessary altered and brought up to date. Infantile Diarrhoea. 25 deaths, mostly in the East Ward. Measles & Whooping Cough. 1 and 3 deaths respectively. Typhoid Fever. 18 notifications without any fatality. An ex¬ haustive analyses of the above notifications shows that seven were doubtful, in five instances the disease was certainly contracted out¬ side the town, so that there were really only six urban cases during the year, all of a sporadic character. Defective house drainage was the main cause to 4, whilst in the remaining 2 no definite reason could be discovered after the strictest investigation. After the re¬ moval of a patient, the surrounding drains are thoroughly flushed with Carbolic Acid.