HH62/1/ABERD/11

Transcription

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travention of Section 15 of the Act of 1883 was found in
the opening, within the bakehouse, of an open drain. This
was immediately remedied by the owner.

DAIRIES.

There are in the District, as mentioned above, 191
dairies. Bye-laws have been drawn up by the District
Committee for regulating the cubic space, the ventilation,
the keeping clean of the cowsheds, and for securing clean-
liness of the dairies and milkshops, the Sanitary Inspector
being commissioned to see that these regulations are
attended to.
Supervision of dairies is a duty imposed on a Local
Authority by an Order, which is equivalent to an Act of
Parliament, and from the view of Public Health it is a
matter of the very utmost consequence.
The systematic inspection was unfortunately delayed,
but will be taken up and carried through, as far as possible
this year.

CAUSES, ORIGIN, AND DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASE.

This is a very wide subject and would require more
time to enter upon with any satisfactory or sufficient results.
The cases of enteric fever and diphtheria which I inves-
tigated I found invariably associated with insanitary con-
ditions. Polluted drinking water was found to be the
cause in a number of the enteric cases; in a few others at
Auchmill the condition of ashpits in connection with the
tenement houses was clearly the cause of the disease. The
foul condition of these ashpits was apparently also the
cause of one case of diphtheria at Auchmill. In the other
cases of diphtheria drainage was always present.
One may reasonably hope that, with improved sanitary
conditions, these cases will become fewer, if they do not
altogether disappear.
Whooping Cough and scarlet fever will, I am afraid,
always persist in the district, owing to the vicinity of the
town. The means of notification and isolation now at the
command of the Sanitary Authority will, however, enable
scarlet fever outbreaks to be immediately controlled and
minimised. Whooping cough is a disease which, from
various causes, we are hardly in a position to deal with
satisfactorily. It would be impossible to resort to hospital
isolation, both from the heavy expense such a proceeding

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would entail and the opposition that would be met with
from parents. The disease often lasts for a long period
or breaks out afresh, and thus renders any attempt at
home isolation extremely difficult. It is my intention, when
time allows, to examine into the statistics of places where
notification of this disease has been in operation for some
years, and to ascertain what the results have been.
Phthisis is not so prevalent in this as in other districts
in the County. Many of the cases are undoubtedly im-
ported from the town, those affected coming back to their
homes, or into the country to recruit, in too many cases to
die. In this way the tubercular death-rate of a town will
be lessened, that of the country district increased. The
death-rate from respiratory diseases is higher in the Aber-
deen District than in any of the other districts of the
County. It would be interesting to inquire to what extent
the deaths from diseases of the respiratory tract are depen-
dent upon the condition of the houses of the people.
I hope to enter more fully into this subject in subsequent
reports.

STATISTICAL TABLES.

Appended are the Tables prepared in accordance with
the Regulations of the Board of Supervision.

I have the honour to be,

GENTLEMEN,

Your obedient servant,

JAMES P. WATT.

COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS,
ABERDEEN, 1892.