Dr. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on an outbreak of scarlet fever, with associated diphtheria and sore throat, occurring in the Macclesfield rural and urban sanitary districts in connexion with a particular supply of milk / [H. Franklin Parsons].

  • Parsons, H. Franklin (Henry Franklin), 1846-1913.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on an outbreak of scarlet fever, with associated diphtheria and sore throat, occurring in the Macclesfield rural and urban sanitary districts in connexion with a particular supply of milk / [H. Franklin Parsons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the morning and of the evening milk, except that those who took milk both morning and evening took on the whole a larger quantity, and suffered more than those who took it only once a day. Of the 103 houses where the milk was taken, information as to the number of inmates and the occurrence of sickness was obtained at 100; at the remaining three the parties had removed. The 100 houses contained 492 inmates, of whom 150 were under the age of 15 and 352 above that age ; and there had occurred in them recently 38 cases of scarlet fever, two of well- marked diphtheria, and 83 of sore throat of greater or less severity. In 58 out of the 100 houses, cases of one or other of these forms of diseases had occurred, and 123, or 25 per cent., of the inmates had been attacked. The appended table, Appendix I., shows the particulars as regards the several households. The incidence respectively on persons under and above the age of 15 will be mentioned in a later paragraph. The first 22 households are in Upton township. They are mostly houses of the better class at which a good deal of milk was drunk; 17 of them had been invaded by disease. The 22 houses contained 106 inmates (of whom 23 were under 15 and 83 above that age); of these 40, or 37*5 per cent., were attacked by disease in one or other form. For the sake of comparison all the other houses in Upton township (18, besides Mr. Y.’s own) were visited. They contained 116 inhabitants (of whom 41 were under 15, and 75 above). Among these, cases of illness were found at three only, viz.:— 1. Two cases of scarlet fever, the first commencing January 24th, clearly traceable to attendance at the Prestbury village school, at which persons had been attending from infected houses. 2. Three cases of “ mumps,” the first about December, in the cottage adjoining 1.* 3. A slight case of sore throat about the latter part of January. Counting all these, we get the following comparison :— Households in Upton. House¬ holds. Cases of Percentage attacked. Milk obtained from Inmates. Scarlet Fever. Diph¬ theria. 1 Sore Throat. House¬ holds. Persons. Mr. V. 22 106 8 1 34 77- 37-5 Other sources, or none 18 116 2 — 4 16-7 5-2 In Macclesfield a similar numerical comparison can only be made in respect of the cases returned as scarlet fever. In the week ending February 2nd 1889 there were notified 32 such • cases, of which 28 were persons habitually using Mr. Y.’s milk. Mr. V. supplies 78 households in Macclesfield, containing 386 persons. There are 60 registered milk dealers selling milk in the borough, so that as the borough contained in 1881 8,552 inhabited houses, and 37,514 inhabitants, each dealer would supply on an average 142 houses and 625 persons, or nearly twice as many as Mr. Y. Probably, however, the proportion which Mr. Y. furnishes of the total amount of milk used in Macclesfield is greater than the proportion of houses supplied by him, since many of his customers are of the well-to-do class, who use a good deal of milk. Of the four cases of scarlet fever notified in the week ending February 2nd in persons not habitually drinking Mr. Y.’s milk, one occurred in a house in which there had been a previous case some weeks before ; it was in a low part of the town, and the back yard and privy were used jointly with a common lodging house. Another child had probably occasionally drunk Mr. V.’s milk. The other two cases occurred in one house, with an interval of three days between them ; the source was not discovered. Of the seven cases notified as scarlet fever in the week ending February 9th, three were in persons who had been using Mr. Y.’s milk. The others occurred in different parts of the town (two in one family), and some of them in association with cases of measles. Two or three cases of sore throat among persons not using Mr. V.’s milk were heard of in the course of the inquiry, but I am informed that sore throats have not been especially frequent in Macclesfield lately, except mumps, which has been rather prevalent. * So far as I can learn these were really cases of mumps, and not true sore throat; but in order to avoid any suspicion of unfairness in the comparison, I have thought it best to include them in the table. X 57827. 300 —5/89. Wt. 23743. A 2