The late epidemic of scarlet fever in St. Marylebone.

  • Whitmore, John.
Date:
[1870]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The late epidemic of scarlet fever in St. Marylebone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    THE LATE EPIDEMIC OF ST. IN SCAjgiL MAP YHEBONE. ' • • If every Medical Officer of Healtli in the metropolis -vvoTild liahitually furnish to the Pegistrar-General such information as he might be able to acquire rela- tive to any epidemic outbreak in the parish or district with which he is officially connected, such information, in the aggregate, could not fail of being most useful, and of great practical value. In our present very iinperfect knowledge of what the poison of contagion i.s, and how^ it spreads aruongst a community, we are compelled to resort very much to statistics,, and othei' ascertained facts, for indications of the means by w-hich the progress of any epi- demic disease can be checked j we note the density of population where it prevails, the class of persons attacked, and their general sanitary condition, the states of atmosphere and temperature, type of disease and rate of mortality, together with the probable agencies which, contribute to form fresh centres of contagion and the apparent benefits -which result from the use .of disinfectants. By utilizing the knowledge thus acquired, a great deal of good is accomplished, and in proportion as our knowledge on these points extends, ..so. will our power to combat -with these periodic scourges increase. Impressed with this idea, I have obtained all the information in my power relative to the recent epidemic of Scaidet Fever in St. Mai-ylebone, wliich 1 have now the pleasure to publish., and although in many respects it is very impei’fect, I trust it may G9 found to some extent useful. The period of time over which the increased prevalence and fatality of Scarlet Fever in Loudon extended was about six months, from the beginning of September, 1SG9, to the end of February, 18/0. During that time the deaths from the disease registered in the metropolis amounted to 4,005, and were distributed over the different districts as follows :—■ In the West District ... . ... 357 deaths „ Noi-th District 935 ,, Central District ... 467 J > „ Ea.st District 1,343 „ South District 1,503 3? It was in the first week of December that it attained the greatest intensity, when 245 deaths from it w'ere registered; from that period it slowly but gradually declined until the third week in February, when' the deaths amounted to 103. Keferring now to the ^U’ogress of the disease in this parish, I find that during tlie above-named period the number of deaths registered from it amounted to 184 ;* of these 35 occurred in the All Souls district, 15 in * The average number of deaths annually in Marylebone from scarlet fever during the pa-it 10 years ha^i been 93, during the late epidemic the increase has been fourfold.