[Report 1910] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

North Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council.

Date:: 1910

Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1910] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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District, two deaths, eight cases occurred within one week at Thornton Dale, the school at Marton where two deaths occurred was closed, and disinfected, whilst all books, etc., which could not be efficiently dealt with were destroyed. Eighteen in the Northallerton Rural District, four removed to hospital, one death, eight occurred at Osmotherley four being in one house, two at Great Smeaton, two at Appleton Wiske, one at Low Moor, one at Danby Wiske, two at Borrowby, one at Cowton East, and one at Romanby. Of the Great Smeaton cases Dr. Hutchinson writes, “ These cases were most probably due to “ stinking town refuse, which had been carted on to land adjoining the road, and left “ there for days, no other local cause was discovered. Notices are now posted through- “ out the area calling upon farmers to plough in all such refuse.” Of the Danby Wiske cases, “ one case at Danby Wiske, probably due to keeping poultry too near the house. “ In 1906 seven cases occurred in this house, and the outbreak was attributed to the too “ close proximity and overstocking of a poultry run, where fowls had previously died of “ a throat disease, probably of the same nature.” One case in the Scalby District. Nineteen in the Eston District, twelve removed to hospital, four deaths, writing on the administration of Diphtheria Antitoxin, Dr. Fulton says, “ During the seven years (1903 “to 1909) we have had 194 cases of Diphtheria notified to us. Of these 119 cases were “ treated at their own homes where antitoxin is seldom or never used, as we have a working “class population, and the price of serum was prohibitive 11/- for 4,000 units, a very “ ordinary dose, and we had 17 deaths. The other 75 cases were treated at our sanatorium “ where serum is always used, and we had three deaths (and the sanatorium cases are the “bad cases, as parents don’t care to let mild cases go there). Now this is over a period “ of seven years. To watch cases of Diphtheria clear up after injection is most interesting “ and wonderful. I am so impressed with its curative powers if given early, that I think “it is almost criminal to withhold it.” Twenty cases in the Guisborough Rural District, three deaths, one death was also registered “ Croup,” seven of the cases occurred in six houses at Marske, six in five houses at New Marske, two at Lackenby, two in one house at Castleton, and one each at Boulby, Pinchingthorpe, and Kirkleatham. Twenty-seven cases in the Guisborough Urban District, one removed to hospital, two deaths, Dr. Stain- thorpe writes, “ Of the twenty-seven cases (in twenty-three houses) of Diphtheria “ seventeen occurred during the last four months of the year. The disease was not “ confined to any one part of the district. The main factor in its spread there “ is reason to believe was the occurrence of missed mild cases among children of “ school age, the infection being conveyed from the sick to the healthy at school. I “ drew the attention of the Chief Medical Inspector of School Children to this.” Five in the Loftus District, one death. Fifty-two in the Redcar District, four deaths, the cases occurred in forty-six houses, ten were reported during the first three months, nine in the second, four in the third, and twenty-nine in the last quarter. The cases were distributed all over the town. Up to the last w?eek in November there was no indication that school influence was a factor in the spread of the disease, of the cases reported between November 21st and December 8th, the majority occurred among children attending the Infant Department of the West Dyke School. Dr. Stainthorpe writes, “ At my suggestion the “ local Medical Inspector of School Children examined several children who had ‘ sore “ throat.’ Of those who were sent home because of the suspicious throat condition “ several I am informed returned to school a few days later. On December 9th I advised “ closure of the Infant department—on the 17th the County Medical Officer advised closure “ of the whole school. Between November 21st and December 8th eleven cases had been “ reported. During the eight days which elapsed between the closure of the one depart- “ ment and the complete closure of the school only one case was notified, this child it was “ evident had contracted the disease before the Infant department was closed. All the “school rooms were disinfected. Since its re-opening (January 10th) cases have occurred “ in two houses among children attending the school, but in each instance the first child “ attacked had not attended the school since its closure on December 9th. I wish to “ emphasise this as owing to a communication which appeared in one of the newspapers “ it was assumed that the outbreak was due to the condition of the school premises. The “ statement made as to state of the drains was inaccurate. The type of closet in use, “ ordinary metal pails ■without the use of absorbent material (approved of, presumably, by “ the Board of Education as the building is of recent structure) is most objectionable. “ But the assumption that Diphtheria was conveyed from child to child through the “ medium of the closets is without basis. In the majority of cases this disease spreads “ from the infected to the healthy by direct contact. Given the presence of a child in an “ infectious condition at school is it not much more reasonable to presume that such child “ infects it fellow scholars by direct contact than by indirect ? That during the latter part “ of November some infected child was in attendance at the West Dyke School there is “ little doubt. There is abundant evidence that for some time past many cases have “ occurred in which the usual throat conditions were either entirely absent or so ill-defined “ as to render diagnosis (without a bacteriological examination) difficult if not impossible. “This has been the experience of all the practitioners.” Seven cases in the Saltburn District, one death, and eight in the Skelton and Brotton District, two deaths, three occurred in two houses at Margrove Park, one each at Boosbeck, Brotton, North Skelton, Skelton, and one in a farm house. Six cases in the Thirsk District, two deaths, one case (fatal) occurred in Thirsk, two in Sowerby, two (one fatal) in Knayton, and one in Upsall. Two cases (both fatal) in the Pickering Urban District. Five cases in the Levburn District, three occurred at West Witton and two at Middleliam, there were two deaths. Twenty-eight in the Ormesby District, six removed to hospital, six deaths; Dr. Jackson writes, “ Anti-toxin when given at the commencement of Diphtheria is successful “ in nearly all ordinary cases, and it is with the view of its early administration that the “ Council decided to supply it free of charge to all patients who could not reasonably “ afford to pay for it themselves. With very severe laryngeal cases, the patient usually