Mr. W. H. Power's report to the local government board on epidemic prevalence of diphtheria in North London.

  • Power, W. H.
Date:
1878
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. W. H. Power's report to the local government board on epidemic prevalence of diphtheria in North London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Mr. W. H. Power’s Report to the Local Government Board on Epidemic Prevalence of Diphtheria in North London. Edward C. Seaton, M.D., Medical Department, December 10, 1878. This Report relates to an epidemic of diphtheria during the spring of the present year in Kilburn and St. John’s Wood in the sanitary districts of Hampstead and Marylebone. In the course of last May representations were made to the Board by certain medical practitioners of these districts that there was an unusual and increasing prevalence of diphtheria among their patients, and I received instructions to inquire into the facts. Putting myself in communication with these gentlemen, with the local medical officers of health and with other medical practitioners, I have been enabled to gather much and exact information as to the households invaded; and in the various directions my inquiry has taken, I have received valuable assistance from a large number of people, particularly from Dr. Morton of Kilburn. Primarily the Report will be concerned with a circumscribed area in the neighbourhood of Kilburn and St. John’s Wood, near the junction of the above parishes, where the disease attained its chief prevalence ; but inquiry has been pushed beyond that area, and indeed beyond the northern limits of the metropolis, with the result of obtaining important evidence bearing on the cause of the epidemic. The following table, compiled from the weekly returns of the Registrar General, shows the prevalence of fatal diphtheria in groups of the metropolitan districts during each of the first 26 weeks of the year. A distinct increase in the mortality will be observed in the second quarter as compared with the first. A very important share of the increase is borne by the northern group of districts which includes the Hampstead and Marylebone parishes. It was in May that this increase took place. Table I. Deaths from Diphtheria, Metropolitan Districts, 1878. Week • ending West. Popula- tion 1871, 561,359. North. Popula- tion 1871, 751,729. CEN- TRAL. Popula- tion 1871, 334,369. East. Popula- tion 1871, 639,111. South. Popula- tion 1871, 967,692. Whole Metro- polis. Popula- tion 1871, 8,254,260. Week ending West. Popula- tion 1871, 561,359. North. Popula- tion 1871, 751,729. Cen- tral. Popula- tion 1871, 334,369. East. Popula- tion 1871, 639,111. South. Popula- tion 1871. 967,692. Whole Metro- polis. Popula- tion 1871, 3,254,260. January 6 1 1 3 6 April 6 — 3 — — 5 8 12 2 2 1 1 3 9 .. 13 2 3 - - 4 9 19 — 3 1 - 1 5 .. 20 2 2 - 2 2 8 „ 2G 1 2 - 1 2 6 >» 27 1 3 2 1 4 11 February 2 3 4 - - 2 9 May 4 1 2 - - 7 10 „ 9 2 3 - 1 4 10 .. 11 - 5 2 1 1 9 „ 1G 1 1 - - 3 5 18 - 4 1 3 4 12 23 3 2 - - 4 9 .. 25 3 11 - 1 5 20 March 2 1 4 - 2 1 8 June 1 2 - 11 - 2 2 17 9 1 4 - - 2 7 .. 8 1 5 1 5 4 18 16 2 2 - 1 1 6 .. 15 2 1 1 - 4 8 23 1 5 - 2 5 13 .. 22 3 . 2 1 1 5 12 *• 30 2 4 1 4 1 12 II 29 3 i 1 — 2 7 Totals, weeks “} 19 36 4 13 32 104 Total-, 13 > weeks - j 20 53 9 16 49 147 The disease prevalent in Kilburn and St. John’s Wood has commonly received the name of diphtheria, or diphtheritic sore throat. Under the latter name have been included cases of all degrees of intensity; some very severe, some not severe, and some even so mild that their nature was rather inferred from their relation to other cases than from their own symptoms. These last cases, however, like the rest, may be taken to have been usually, if not always, examples of real diphtheria. It will be convenient that in this Report, which will have little concern with degrees of severity of the same complaint, that I should speak of the prevalent disease as “ throat illness.” From A