[Report 1896] / Medical Officer of Health, Grays U.D.C.

  • Grays Thurrock (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1896] / Medical Officer of Health, Grays U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THIS BEipJG ,;.E SPECIAL PILE COPY FGrf| LIBRARY B. M.A., IT IS PARTICULARLY; REQUESTED THAT IT MAY BE RETURNED! AT A3 EARLY A DATE A3 POSSIBLE, j Annual Report OF MEDINAE OFFICER OF HEALTH, FOR THE YEAR 1896, In the Urban Sanitary District of Grays. During the year there where registered 432 births, giving a birth-rate of 32 per thousand ; and 188 deaths, giving a death-rate of 13’9. These figures are based on an estimated population of 13,500. The birth and death-rates repectively for all England and Wales for 1896 are 29‘7 and 17T per thousand. For a district of this kind the birth-rate is some- what low, but the death-rate it will be seen contrasts very favourable. The infant mortality, i.e., the proportion of deaths under one year to 1000 born is 141’2, this is considerably lower than that for all England and Wales which averages 177, and testifies not only to the general health of the population but also to the care and attention paid to their off- spring by the mothers of the district, who are only very exceptionally workers in factories, &c. The Zymotic death-rate, that is the death-rate from the principal Zymotic Diseases, viz., Small-pox, Measles, Diphtheria, Scarlatina, Whooping-cough, Typhoid, and Diarrhoea, is 2 per thousand, while that of all England and Wales is 2T8 per thousand. Of these Zymotic diseases, Diphtheria is responsible for only one death, Typhoid for four deaths, Whooping-cough four deaths, while Measles, that supposed harmless infantile complaint, has been responsible for 17 deaths. Injuries caused nine deaths, while 26 persons reached over the age of 65 years. Only a single case of Puerperal Fever has occurred during the year. With the exception therefore of Measles, which has claimed a very heavy death-toll, but which may be said to be at present outside the control of the Health Authorities, the lightness of the fatal cases of Infectious Diseases is very satisfactory and this applies especially to Diphtheria when compared with the heavy mortality in this district a few years ago from this disease. In my report for the year 1892, while commenting on the number of deaths from Measles, I pointed out that the complaint tends to become epidemic every second year; this has been shown practically in Grays by the outbreaks which have occurred in ’90, ’92, ’94 and ’96. The question of the closure of the schools of course occurred to me in connec- tion with the outbreak of Measles. But it so happened that the worst of the outbreak was occurring, so far as I was enabled to judge, shortly before the summer vacation, and moreover the closure of schools in a neighbourhood where children congregate thickly together does not always effect its purpose, being indeed more useful in districts where the scholars are gathered together from scattered hamlets. But in a district of this kind because they do not meet at school it by no means follows that they do not meet at play when infection can be carried. We removed to the Infectious Hospital five cases of Small-pox and three cases of Scarlatina. The latter cases occurred in one family, that of a sehoolmaster residing at the schools. They were promptly removed and disinfection carried out with the happiest results, no cases arising therefrom. During the year, practically the whole of the Sanitary district has been inspected by the Sanitary Inspector and by myself. The Sewage disposal works have been in operation since November, 1894, and up to the present have worked satisfactorily.