[Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Patrington R.D.C.
- Patrington (England). Rural District Council.
- Date:
- 1913
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Patrington R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.
1/2
![With 2>r. Coates* Qomplirqenis Bleak House, Pahrington, January 24th, 1914. To the District Council of Patrington. I present my 18th annual report dealing with, the health of the district for the year ending December 31st, 1913. The population of the district is estimated at 7,200, a slight reduction owing to the extension of tile Wi-'ther-nsea Urban area. The number cl birthe has been 100, on® more than 1912. Out of this number eight were illegitimate, a proportion of one in 20 compared with one in 19 in 1912. The average illegitimate birth¬ rate is 43.2 per 1,000 in England, 83.5 in Germany, 87.2 in France, and 56.5 in Italy. Patriington Union, 1913, 50 per 1,000; the average for 10 years is 40 per 1,000 in this district. The average last year of the East Riding' was 70 per 1,000. The birth¬ rate for 1913 is 22.2 per 1,000, compared with 21.97 in 1912. The average for the liast 10 years is 22.3. The biith-rate the East Riding in 1912 was 21.6. The births took place as follows:— 1st. 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter. Quarter. Quarter. Quarter. Males .... 18 21 20 23 Female* ..16 *. 24 14 24 One hundred and sixty-two children were successfully vaccinated, seven died unvaccinated, and 33 had exemptions. It is unsettling tio think that nearly one-fifth have got exemptions; every one of these will be potential factors if we get a small¬ pox epidemic. Th© curious thing is that most oil the exemptions are obtained in one area. With calf lymph and modern ways there is really no reason Iot this. Germany with its repeated vaccinations shows better results than we do. There was much to he said against the urrn-to- a-ran method. I think the anti-vaccinators hadi some kind of grievance, which does not now exist. During the year 71 ipersons have died, viz., 45 males and 26 females. This is at the rate :of 10.2 per 1,000, com pa red, with 13.13 in 1912, and 13.33 the .average of the last 'ten years. The death-rate- of the East Riding in 1912 was 12.29. The aver¬ age age of all deaths ,in England is 46 years. In this district this year it is 54 years 9 months, compared with 48 years 9 mon'ths last year. Females average 61.1, and males 42. The number of deaths under one year is eight, ir-a'te of 50 per 1,000 births. The East Riding average for 1912 was 74, and the whole of England rural districts 86. iT96.(7. Thie ages at death work out as follows in 'this area:—Over 1 and under 2 years, 2; over 5 and under 15, 3; over 15 and under 25 years, 3; over 25 and under 45 years; 7; over 45 and under 65 years, 20; 65 and 'upwards, 27. GENERAL DEATH-RATE AT ALL AGES PER 1,000 LIVING, 1912. England k Wales. 13.5 Italy . ... 21.8 German Empire .. 19.2 London . ... 13.6 Prance . 18.4 Berlin . ... 14.6 Austria . 21.2 Paria .. Switzerland . 15.1 Vienna . Russia ... 29.4 Berne . ... 13.1 United States .... 15.8 East Riding ... ... 13.29 Th© Tate for Patrington is 9.72. Six inquests were held during 1913 (and one death was uncertified), three natural causes, and three from accidents. Th© following are the chief causes of deaths:—Enteric fever 1, measles 1, diph¬ theria 1, influenza 2, phthisis 4, tuberculatr meningitis 1, cancer 6, organic heart disease 18, bronchitis 2, pneumonia 1, appendicitis 1, nephritis and Bright’s disease 5, meningitis 1, premature- birth 2, all other sources 20. Five deaths took place in institutions outside this Union of persons belonging to the district, and two deaths within this area or persons belonging to otb-eri dis¬ tricts, of which, one died in an institution. The. deaths took place as follows:— 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter. Quarter. Quarter. Quarter. Males .... 12 .. 12 8 13 Females .. 7 2 9 8 I append: a table showing at a glance (1) births; (2) deaths; (3) average death- rate; (4) average birth-rate; and (5) average age at death;:— Death rate per B’ths. D’ths. 1000. Birth rate per 1000. Avge. age at death. Burstwick . 9 5 10.30 18.4 67.4 Burton Pidsea .. 7 3 10.71 25.00 48.6 Easington . 2 5 14.29 5.71 46.4 Frodingham . 2 0 0.0 28.59 00.0 Hilsfcon . 1 0 0.0 33.33 00.0 Halsham . 5 0 0.0 22.72 00.0 Hollym . 4 0 0.0 19.17 00.0 Holmpton . 4 1 5.89 23.52 94 Keyingham . 10 3 5.40 18.01 61.3 Kilnsea . 7 3 24.77 56.45 37.09 Ottringham . 8 2 4.38 17.58 46 Out Newton .... 3 0 0.0 83.33 00.0 Owstwick . 4 0 0.0 50.00 00.0 Owthorne . 2 0 0.0 16.39 00.0 Patrington . 11 14 12.17 10.09 51.5 Patrington Union 1 3 79.94 26.31 72.3 Pauli . 8 2 3.46 13.89 57.5 Rimswell . 6 3 21.43 42.85 22.36 Rooa . 11 8 18.1 25.00 60.1 RyehiU . 10 5 22.32 44.64 74.2 Skeffling . 3 2 14.28 21.42 44 Sunk Island .... 10 3 8.08 27.02 27.66 Thorngumbald .. 10 4 14.81 37.03 45.75 Tunstall . 0 1 10.00 0.00 11 Waxholme . 3 i 25.00 75.00 86 Welwick . 10 3 10.48 34.96 13.3 Winestead . 2 0 0.0 12.98 00.0 Compared with the following showing the average for the past 10 years:— Average Arerage deaths Popu- Average Average under 1 lation. Births. Deaths. 'Year. Buistwiek . 482.6 7 4.7 .4 Burton Pidsea .. 282.4 8.6 3.7 .3 Easington . 355 5.4 4.5 .6 Frodingham .... 70 2.9 6 .3 Halsham . 220 2.9 2.3 .1 Hilston . 28.8 1.1 2 .1 Hollym . 210.4 5.1 2.6 .9 Holmpton . 170 3.7 2.8 .4 Keyingham . 549.8 12.9 4.7 .7 Kilnsea . 125.6 4.4 1.9 .8 Ottringham .... 459 9.6 5.8 1.0 Out Newton .... 36 1.1 3 .1 Owstwick . 80.4 3.6 5 0.0 Owthorne . 105.2 2.7 9 .6 Patrington . 1077.2 21.2 16.2 1.5 Patrington Union 41.9 1.0 6.3 0.0 Pauli . 569 15.8 6.5 1.6 Rimswell . 138.8 4.4 1.9 .5 Roos . 436 10.5 7.1 .7 Ryehill . 221.6 6.2 3.8 .6 Skeffling . 138.8 3.3 1.8 .3 Sunk Island .... 366.4 10.3 2.9 .5 Thorngumbald... 271.2 8.2 3.6 1.0 Tunstall . 101.2 2.2 1.4 .3 Waxholme . 57.4 1.1 1.2 .2 Welwick . 282.4 8.3 3.4 .8 Winestead . 155.2 4.2 1.0 .2 The number of inhabited 'houses in the district is 1,640, the average number of people per house- is 4.3. The^acreage is 61,350, the density of population is- one person- to 8.4 acres. The East Riding is one to 7.7 in the rural, and one to- five in th© entire- Riding. The infantile mortality is eight, com¬ pared with 18 ilas-t year. The average for 10 years is 15.8. One illegitimate child died under one year of age out of eight births. The cancer rate is one in 11, com¬ pared with- one in 10 last year. The aver¬ age of England- and Wales is on© in 30. The average age at death for cancer in •this district is 56 years (two were males and four wore females). The -average age a-t death from heart affections is 75.3. For- consumption- the average age at death is 57 years, the rate per population is .83 in this district, compared with .76 in the East Riding in 1912. Sixty-five cases of infectious diseases were notified during 1913, compared with 66 in 1912. The cases were:—Diphtheria 3, erysipelas 17, scarlet fever 41, enteric fever 3, poliomyelitis 1. One death re¬ sulted from enteric -and one from polio¬ myelitis. The cases were distributed ov®,r 11 parishes-. Roos had the major -amount-, chiefly sca-i'ct fever of a mild type. There is evea-y reason to believe lit was imported into the district from outside. The total number o-f people receiving poor-law (relief is 123, or one in 58. The average for England is on© in 39. Thirty- one of these are in the workhc-use, and £?ven belong to other mu'»-« mate#, mm 4o are females; 41- children a'r© out¬ side the workhouse. There are 27 inmates of i;hi» Beverley Asylum from -this district, 15 males and 11 females. Four- dieath-s to-ok place there in 1912, two males and two females. During 1913 165 children were lExeluded from school by special certificate for -complaints as follows:—Measles 23, influenza- 11, scar-ft fever 45, mumps 6, chicken-pox 32, whooping- eo-ugh 47, diph¬ theria 1. The number of eases for each school As as follows:—Burshvick 2, Ilollym 10, Winestead 7, Keyingham 21, Thorn© 9, Pauli 1, H-0-O-, 38, Welwick 8, Of-tringham 6, Halsham 1, Sunk 7, Patrington 46. Two schools wore closed, Hollym tfor mumps, and Patrington for whooping cough. Twenty-on© -schools were dosed- in th© East Riding daring 1913. Two cases of anthr ax /have been -reported by the police, one at Burton Pkkea, und¬ one at Pauli. Thart-eien -specimens were sent f or bacteriological examination; one was positive and the rest negative. Twenty-seven water's were analysed; 7 were good, 9 bad, and 11 fair. During the year* 13 cases of tuberculosis were ratified. Twelve were localised, and only one of lung disease, 'and illiis was in the Beverley Asylum. Thro© deaths occurred from phthisis, and the average age, was 57. Seven deaths occurred in 1912. PHTHISIS DEATH-RATE PER 1,000 LIVING. Patrington . 0.83 Germany . . 1.44 East Riding. . 0.7b Berlin . . 1.76 England Ik Wales. . 1.02 Paris . . 3.66 Prance . . 1.81 Vienna . . 2.61 Switzerland. London . . 1.61 . 1.25 Bern© . . 1.95 In 1912 27 cases of phthisis were notified from the Skefiling Sanatorium. This yea-r I have not received any notification of any phthisis at all from this (institution-. It is a peculiar condition of affairs that known cases of consumption can be settled in an unsuitable building within another sanitary authority’s area. Two cases of enteric fever were notified from the Skeffling Sanatorium. I immediately -took samples of both the milk supplied to- th© institution and the water. Bacteriologi¬ cal] y both were pure. The care of con¬ sumption is one which- is -rightly occupy¬ ing the attention of the sanitary authori¬ ties of the country, and numerous scheme-s are being devised to combat the disease. It is to be hoped that the sufferers will not be segregated in large buildings, and that care wall -bq taken in the .selection of a suitable locality. Clay lands such as Hold© mess are totally unsuitable, whilst the east and north winds are far too severe -at some j>eriods of th© year to allow patients to make any sort of progress. The proper -situations are gravel or chalk foundations, and shel¬ tered from the north -and east. It cannot too -often be urged- that precautions- should be taken by all consumptives. The germs liv-e in -the lung and are spat up, that is why -the sputa should always bo burned. Consumption is not catching in the way scarlet fever or measles is, i.e., by actual contact. The spit, even after it is dried, can retain its virulence for a -long -time, and people can only get the disease by breathing the germs. It is very doubtful if it is ever caused by swallowing thie germs, i.e., lung consumption. It is, how¬ ever, a very debateable- point whether it is or is not sometimes caured by milk; certainly the germs inu'TFiply very rapidly in milk, and -there are a great number of cows suffering from tubercle. Twenty-five per cent. Of cows are afflicted, but only about 2 per cent, are affected by local tubercle on the udders. Whils-t th'e-re is a doubt as to- phthisis being caused by milk, theme is a great reason 'to suspect such complaints as tuber¬ cular joints, glands, bowel trouble, and skin affections to milk from tubercular cows. Children more readily develop these diseases than adults, who have more powem -to throw the germs off. Children especially develop bowel consumption. Consumption in cows is increased, if not practically developed, by housing them. Consumptive cows are practically un¬ known on the great tranches where op®n- aiir is the rule. To confine cows in a cribbed, small, ill-lighted, and often no light at all, sheds, is a isu-ne- and speedy way to develop consumption. In -the Balkans the inhabitants attain a great age, living on sour milk, but Ithii-s its goat milk, and goats ne.ver .suffer from con¬ sumption. With -our present knowledge it is on the whole the safest way to sterilise the milk by pouring it into a pot and then placing this pot in a larger one and gradually -developing -heat until bubbles appear. To combat consumption, avoid crowded places, colds, be i-egular in habit., ean;ly bed, and fresh air, windows always open wide, not just a little, for that causes a draught. The rainfall of Patrington last; year was 17.94 inches. January was the highest 3.32, and the driest July 0.16. The average per month was- 1.49 inches. Thieire is no isolation hospital in this district. Building -regulation® are now being adopted; this, I hope, will give ns more control over the -flection of bui'd- ings. During the year 33 dwelling-houses were inspected by the Sanitary Inspector, Mr Ingleton, the first sanitary inspector to devote his whole time to the work, and the -result has beisn that he has been fully occupied, and a great -deal of work lias been don© with tact, and no offensive pres¬ sure has had to be brought to bea.r to get the work done. No summons has had 'to be issued. Five houses have been volun- t-arilv demolished by the owners, thus avoiding -a closing order in every case. Two 'hundred and sixty-five dwellings have bo?u- inspected under the 1909 Act.; nine were found unfit for habitation, 64 had defective walls and ceilings; d-amp and bad windows were all remedied without ’©gal orders; seven -houses weir© volun¬ tarily closed. The, rents were only £2 to j63 per annum. In addition to th© Hous© and Town Planning Act, 33 either dwell¬ ing-houses were -inspected, and many de¬ tects remedied; 111 nuisances were found, 89 abated, 51 notices served, 46 complied with, and 40 privies converted into pail closets. This ought to be th© system in all til© -la-ige villages. Numerous cases of only -one closet to- two and even three houses have come to light. Systematic scavenging is to be preferred to the hap¬ hazard present way of dealing with ash¬ pits. Forty-seven defective ho-usee d-raine were found; 12 new houses have been built; 19 cesspools hav-e been, -clone away with; 15 houses have been disinfected after' infec¬ tious diseases and two after consumption. Two houses were -ov-e-rc-r crowded. Twenty- four workshops were -inspected, and five found unclean and two nuisances in others. Fortv-two cowsheds a.-e on the list, and 84 visits were paid to them; three defects were found1. The flooring of the cowsheds is not up to the mark in a great number of cases, but there is a great ad¬ vance in sanltarv work in this district. The health of flh© children in the schools is well maintained, and the clothing, cleanliness, and nourishment are very good. Th;? defects in eye-sight, &c., a)i'e receiving attention. The food -of the dis¬ trict -is of a good -type, and there is not much -adulteration of food' stuffs in this area. The manufacture of soda water from w-rtls of questionable character still cou- tinu-eis. This must always be a source of danger, and a sharp eye has had to he knot -over the character of the water. Tli-a housing of the labourers might well receive attention at the hands of the la mi¬ me tiers ; many o-fl these houses are of a very bad type. 1 am glad to say that we have l'.ad erected some good cottages of an in-f.xuensive tvpe this year. The dis¬ trict could do with more. The work of the snnita-iy department increases. It is now five times as much as it was when I first became your Medical Officer. Th® Council can lie congratulated on the •steadily decreasing death-rate. It is the lowest -ever recorded. Th© average num¬ ber is 93.7. and it is to be honed that with further efforts to prevent infantile deaths in the shape of better housing, sanitation, and due appreciation of sanitary laws, the rate may .still further decrease. It is remarkable that although the death-rate decreases, th© average age o-f death in¬ creases.—Yours, kc., W. II. COATES, M.A., M.B., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., L.S.A.. L.S.Sc.. Medical Officer of Health, Bunistc-r-at-Law.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29983745_0001.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
