[Report 1895] / Medical Officer of Health, Durham County Palatine / County Council.

  • Durham (England : County). Council.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1895] / Medical Officer of Health, Durham County Palatine / County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    than in 1894 judging by the number of cases notified. Scarlet fever and enteric fever were most prevalent, and the incidence of each disease was greatest in the month of September. Both diseases were rather fatal, the case mortality of scarlet fever (nearly 9 per cent.) being very high. No common cause of the enteric fever could be discovered, but the cases mostly occurred in houses on the south side of'the town which had been built on foundations of “made soil” of all sorts. No fewer than 15 of the 23 cases of diphtheria and membranous croup notified died, and most of the cases occurred in clean new houses where no sanitary defects were discoverable. Diarrhoea caused 111 deaths, or more than four times as many as in the previous year, and Dr. Gourley says :—“ The chief causes of infantile “ mortality from summer diarrhoea are improper feed- “ ing, such as ‘boiley,’ soured milk, &c. Hereditary “ disease contributes a great deal to the infant mortality “ bill, and years of observation lead me to think that “ insurance and mortality are more closely connected “ than most people are aware of.’' The number of infectious cases isolated in hospital was 35, and all the cases notified were visited, and the necessary precautions taken, by the officers of the Corporation. General Sanitation. Seven polluted wells were closed during the year, and the town water supply subsituted. The new public slaughter-houses are now in use, and satisfactory in every respect. The important question of compensa- tion to the butchers in cases of tuberculosis still