[Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Southend-on-Sea Borough.

  • Southend-on-Sea (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Southend-on-Sea Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    u Every purveyor of milk, or person selling milk by retail shall cause every vessel containing milk for sale to be kept properly covered, or to be otherwise sufficiently protected from contamination by dust or flies.” This regulation was submitted to and approved by the Local Government Board, and the Common Seal having been affixed, and also the necessary notice given, the Regulation came into force within the Borough on and after the 25th day of July, 1904. Notwithstanding the precautions taken under the last heading during the year, no less than 73 deaths occurred from diarrhoea and enteritis among infants under twelve months of age in the Borough, during July, August and September. 75 per cent, of these 73 deaths occurred during August, and 20 per cent, in the first half of September. Diarrhoea* I dealt with the late summer epidemic of diarrhoea in a special report, and again drew attention fo the fact that the diarrhoea season was co-incidental with the fly season. I pointed out once more that the brickfields lying between Sutton Road and the Great Eastern Railway were great breeding places for flies, owing not only to the warmth but to the large amount of organic refuse deposited there for the purposes of brick-making. Some of this refuse is gradually destroyed by burning, but the burning does not keep pace with the daily deposit. I pointed out further with the aid of a u spot map” that the majority of cases of diarrhoea occurred within a radius of one-thiixl of a mile of the brickfields and that this fact strongly indicated the necessity for the Council to enforce one of two alternatives—either (1) To have the brickfields (being a dumping place of refuse and a breeding place for flies) removed further away from the town, or (2) Better and more in accordance with the teachings of Sanitary Science to provide a refuse destructor for the disposal of the town’s refuse.