[Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough.

  • Cheltenham (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    from zymotic diarrhoea, we are probably more liberal, and less savins: of our zymotic death-rate, than many other towns. From time to time we have had a prevalence in the later summer and autumn months of a zymotic diarrhoea, or enteritis, amongst infants and the younger children. We had such a prevalence last year, the worst visitation of the kind we have had for many years, and the 39 deaths registered from this cause, brought our otherwise very low death-rate from zymotic diseases up to an average rate, for whilst there were 39 deaths from diarrhoea there were only 10 deaths from the other six of the seven chief zymotics. This diarrhoea or acute enteritis in infants, as it occurs in Cheltenham, is a distinctly epidemic and well defined zvmotic disorder. The origin of the disease is uncertain, i o but is probably in the soil, and becomes specially active in certain vears. It always affects the North Ward worst, thus, t' t last year, there were as many cases in the North Ward as in the rest of the Wards together. The adjacent Central Ward being the next worst affected. Whether the matter be viewed in relation to population, or in relation to numbers of births the result is the same in placing the North Ward in the leading position, and this has been the case in former years of prevalence as well as last year. Nor is poverty the cause, nor bad feeding, though these may assist in bringing about a fatal result. Idle cause undoubtedly lies in a germ, which appears to be related to the sandy soil of the lower part of the town, rather than to the clay ground, if the germ lie in the soil according to our surmise. The disease affects particularly very voung children, and if the cause he not in the dirt, it must be in the food or the air. The air is not local, nor can there be anything in the local food supply to the infants, e.g. milk, that at recurrent periods of years would bring about a prevalence of the disease. If it be a matter of soil the only remedies would appear to lie in home cleanliness, paving of back yards, watering of streets in dry weather, and these might be only partly preventive. Greater care in feeding during the dangerous time would probably reduce the death-rate from this specific disease. Enteric or Typhoid Fever.—Of this disease there were only 7 cases notified, which is the lowest annual number