[Report 1906] / Medical Officer of Health, Leicestershire / County of Leicester County Council.

  • Leicestershire (England). County Council.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1906] / Medical Officer of Health, Leicestershire / County of Leicester County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/98 (page 15)
    *5 Districts, and more in the Rural Districts. In the former, two dis¬ tricts, viz., Coalville and Loughborough, were responsible for the great majority of the cases; whilst in the latter, two districts, viz. : Hinckley and Market Bosworth, were responsible for half the cases. The number of deaths totalled 16, and the case fatality was therefore 12'1 per cent. This is higher than the last two years, but is, however, fairly satisfactory. The Typhoid Fever Death rate for the whole County was O'07, against 0*06 last year; whilst that for Rural England and Wales was O'09. In the Urban Districts 58 cases were notified, and 10 deaths were recorded, giving a case fatality of 17'2 per cent; whilst in the Rural Districts there were 74 cases and only 6 deaths, giving a case fatality of 8*1. The Urban cases were, therefore, very much more severe, and more than twice as fatal as the Rural. At Coalville last year specifically contaminated soil causing pollution of well water was recorded as the origin of most of the cases. This year again the same appears to have been the case, but to a less extent. Twenty-three cases were notified, and the Medical Officer of Health says : “ They were mostly cases—contact cases—following on from previous cases in the same yard or locality; and there is little doubt that the infection was often water-borne. In two cases a bacteriological examination of the drinking water revealed specific pollution. The water supply in these cases was from surface wells.” It is quite easy to see, therefore, what the want of proper sanitation and water supply has been responsible for. At Hinckley two cases were notified in one house, where there were no insanitary conditions; both, however, gave a history of having eaten oysters from London, and this coincided with their re¬ spective incubation periods. At Loughborough the cases were somewhat more numerous than last year, but half of them formed one small localised outbreak. This was attributed to the first patient drinking impure water outside the Borough; medical advice was not procured for two weeks; the family was overcrowded, and the house and furniture very dirty. The result was that the disease spread rapidly, and seven members of the family became ill, and were removed to the Isolation Hospital. Two occupants of the adjoining house developed the disease; this extension was no doubt due to direct infection. Several other sporadic cases were attributed to drinking impure water either inside or outside the Borough.