[Report 1903] / Medical Officer of Health, Longton Borough.

  • Longton (Staffordshire, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1903] / Medical Officer of Health, Longton Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    When the Town Council took over the schools of the Borough, I asked the Education Committee, through the Sanitary Committee, to authorise their Attendance Officers to send me weekly reports on special forms of the causes of absence from school, and by this means I was able to advise the Sanitary Authority as to the closing of the schools. I consider that this extra notification has been exceedingly useful. I have visited a good many of the schools myself, and inspected the attendance books, and in several instances I have sent children home who have shown early symptoms of the disease, so I feel justified in stating that due vigilance has been exercised in dealing with the epidemic. The Lady Inspector has delivered leaflets on her round, advising mothers how to deal with measles, and I have no doubt these leaflets and her explanation of them have helped to keep down the mortality. Diphtheria Although we have not exactly had an epidemic of Diphtheria, still it has been prevalent, as the number of cases shows, viz., 85 with 17 deaths. This gives a death-rate per cent, of the total number of cases of 20, contrasted with 17*6 for 1902. This high case-rate I believe is partly due to the fact that SO' few cases went to the Hospital, where the nursing is so much better than at home, and it was also probably partly due to anti-toxin not being used either early- enough or in sufficiently large doses. The reason more cases did not go to the Hospital is owing to the difficulty we had (this being our first year at Bucknall) in persuading the parents to allow their children to go on account of the distance, which difficulty we are now happily- getting over. The analysis of the deaths shows one under one year, 12 between one and five, and 4 between five and fifteen. Only 21 of the cases were sent to the Joint Infectious Disease Hospital at Bucknall, two of which died there. On referring to the ward list, you will find that no part of the town escaped, though four of the wards were responsible for 56 of the 85 cases, viz., Sandford Hill 17, Dresden 13, Sutherland 13, Normacot 13. Scarlet Fever There were 83 cases of Scarlet Fever, with 3 deaths, equal to 3-6 per cent, of the cases, compared with 2-7 per cent, for 1902. Twelve of these cases were sent to Bucknall. The analysis of the deaths shows 2 between one and five years, and one between five and fifteen years. On reference to the ward list it will be noticed there were 33 in the Sandford Hill Ward, 14 in Florence, 11 in St. John’s, 8 each in Dresden and Normacot, 6 in the Meir, 1 each in St. James’s, Market and St. Paul’s, and none in the Sutherland Ward. Typhoid Fever There were 36 cases of Typhoid Fever in 31 houses. The incidence of Typhoid is the strongest possible indictment against the privy cesspool system, as the analysis of the closet systems of these 31 houses shows, viz.: —