[Report 1898] / Medical Officer of Health, Driffield U.D.C.

  • Driffield (Humberside, England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1898] / Medical Officer of Health, Driffield U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    were free from sickness, and the answer was that no case of illness had occurred amongst their casual occupiers for a considerable period. We find such enquiries to be useful so as to protect the district against the invasion of contagious disease. Of this we had a somewhat painful experience a few years ago which caused considerable anxiety and trouble. The public health at this period was reported to be in a highly satisfactory state as indicated by the monthly return of the Registrar, only four deaths having been recorded, two of which had taken place in the Union Workhouse. Death- rate, 8.4. JULY. —We were able to place upon record for this month, that after a period of unwonted activity which set in at the early part of the year, and due mainly to an outbreak of Scarlatina and Measles, to have then reached an interval of com- parative calm, and to pronounce the health of the district to have again reached its former state. The scarcity of rain to flush out the sewers, thus favouring the deposition of solid matter and making itself perceptible by the liberation of bad smells, was commented upon. Any defects in our drainage system quickly lead to urgent calls for prompt removal. Death-rate, 4.6. AUGUST. —The usual localities were visited, including the two Linseed Cake Mills, during this month, and reference was made to the absence of those disorders generally associated with hot weather, such as autumnal Diarrhoea, which in past years was so prevalent in agricultural districts. This latter circumstance may be partly due to the substitution of more whole- some and suitable beverages, in the place of those formerly in use, by those engaged in the operations of the harvest-field. Death-rate, 13.7. SEPTEMBER. —The Lodging-houses, the Filtration Area and the Public Schools were each visited this month, and such features as attracted any special attention were noticed in the monthly report. A case of Typhoid, apparently traceable to a defective pump where the water 1 was exposed to the risk of pollution from an adjoining cesspool, was alluded to, and subsequently remedied. As regards our Public Schools it may here be remarked that their sanitary arrangements are such as to leave nothing more to be desired, every consideration