Mr. Spear's report to the Local Government Board upon recent prevalence of diphtheria and "croup" in the Stalybridge urban sanitary district, and upon the general sanitary circumstances of the district / [John Spear].

  • Spear, John.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. Spear's report to the Local Government Board upon recent prevalence of diphtheria and "croup" in the Stalybridge urban sanitary district, and upon the general sanitary circumstances of the district / [John Spear]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/6
    -A. LIBRARY c.aeral Collections Mr. Spear’s Report to the Local Government Board upon recent prevalence of Diphtheria and “ Croup ” in the Stalybridge Urban Sanitary District, and upon the General Sanitary Circumstances of the District. +P 70 George Buchanan, Medical Department, June 21st, 1890. The urban district of Stalybridge covers an area of 3,071 acres, and contains a population, mainly aggregated on the western border of the district, now estimated at 28,000. On the west is Ashton-under-Lyne (the two towns being almost continuous); on the south and south-west are the Dukinfield and Hyde Urban Districts; on the north and north-west, the Mossley and Hurst Urban Districts; and on the east is an elevated and for some distance sparsely populated tract of country. The River Tame and the Huddersfield Canal pass side by side through a valley which cuts the district in an east and west direction, and upon the somewhat steep sides of which the town is situated. Geologically, the western and more populous borders of the district are on the Lower Coal Measures or Gannister Beds ; the eastern part on the Mill Stone Grit and Shale. The surface soil is chiefly clay and shale. Cotton mills supply the staple industry. Mortality statistics of the district during recent years are given below:— Year. Deaths from all Causes per 1,000 of Population. Deaths under 1 to 1,000 Births. Number of Deaths from Small¬ pox. Measles. Scarla¬ tina. Diph¬ theria. Croup. Whooping Cough. Fever. Diarrhoea. 1880 21-6 _ 13 6 1 ? 9 8 38 1881 22 6 — — 9 — v 16 7 27 1882 22-2 — 6 8 — 3 30 12 34 1883 21*5 — 4 9 — 6 — 8 15 1884 26-1 184 — 6 29 — 6 11 6 45 1885 23-3 175 — 7 3 — 1 28 4 16 1886 22-5 194 — i 1 — 2 22 11 21 1887 23-6 162 — 68 3 1 3 5 1 19 1888 20-2 161 2 — 8 — 3 9 7 18 1889 23*2 205 ' 41 9 7 17 4 4 18 The most notable features of this table are the high general mortality shown, the high infant mortality, the endemic prevalence of “ fever ” (apparently all typhoid), the large increase in the mortality from diphtheria during 1889, and the coincident large increase in the mortality from “ croup.” During 1889, in addition to the deaths above recorded, four were registered from “ laryngitis ” or “ laryngitis, tonsillitis ” ; and during the first two months of 1890 two deaths from diphtheria were registered and two from “ croup.” Investigation of the circumstances of this recent fatal prevalence of throat diseases-was the chief purpose of my inquiry. So far as I could learn, the number of non-fatal cases of diphtheria, or of other sore throat, had been, relatively to the deaths, remarkably few. A system of compulsory notification of infectious diseases (diphtheria but not croup being amongst those scheduled) is in force in the district, but, except for those that proved fatal, no single case of diphtheria had been reported to the authority. One medical man practising in the district told me that during 1889 he had had three or four cases of what he regarded as inflam¬ matory croup terminating in recovery, and another that he had had two or three cases of severe sore throat that he considered suspicious of diphtheria. In one house I myself found a child suffering from a sore throat that I U 62906. 170.—6/90. Wt. 3644. E. & S. A