HH62/1/AYR/47

Transcription

[Page] 46

[draw] backs for such a trade, will fall to be dealt with under the pro-
posed bye-laws for slaughter-houses, which I expect will be soon in
force in the district.

BAKEHOUSES.

Under the Factory and Workshops Act the duty of inspecting
retail bakehouses devolves upon the Medical Officer of Health.
Those bakehouses which were inspected by me were fairly clean,
although none of them showed a high state of efficiency in the
arrangements for ventilation and other structural points. The Local
Authority have, however, no powers for framing bye-laws for the
regulation of bakehouses, so that unless marked sanitary defects can
be seen, there is no provision to enforce any special conditions as to
floors, walls, &c., which are much required for facilitating and
ensuring the absolute cleanliness of these important places.

ISOLATION HOSPITALS.

There are three small hospitals in this district, none of which are
satisfactory. One of these, which is in Troon, is an old church,
and, from its proximity to dwellings, besides structural defects, is not
suited for an isolation hospital. The other two are old hospitals
built for the isolation of cases of smallpox - one in Kilmaurs and the
other in Hurlford. Although they might be useful in an emergency,
they are very unsatisfactory. The District Committee are to be
congratulated on the arrangements they have made in regard to
Kilmarnock Hospital, which with the new ambulance, &c., places
this district on a very satisfactory footing for the prevention of
epidemic disease.*

PREVENTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE.

Although the Infectious Disease Notification Act was not in
force during the year under notice, several cases of infectious disease
in the district came to my knowledge, and these, as far as it was
expedient and possible. were isolated in the Kilmarnock Hospital or
in their own homes. With the Notification of Disease Act, a first-
class ambulance, a well-appointed hospital - suitable for the whole
district - and two active District Sanitary Inspectors, we have every
confidence that much good will be done in this district in the
prevention of infectious disease.

DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASES, STATISTICS. &c.

We shall consider the origin and causes of diseases in connection
with the vital statistics of the district during the year.
Birth-rate. - The birth-rate (31.9) of this district during the year
was exactly the yearly average for the whole of Scotland during the
-----
* At the date at which this report is being written (February, 1892), there are 13 cases -
11 of enteric and two scarlet fever - in the Hospital, from various parts of the district.

[Page] 47

previous ten years. The birth-rate varied from 24.7 per 1000 in
Mauchline parish to 41.9 per 1000 in the parish of Riccarton.
Total Death-rate. - The death-rate from all causes (19.7) is some-
what higher in this district than in any of the other three districts of
the county. This is partly caused by a greater death-rate from
influenza in this district, but more from the higher rate of mortality
from the principal zymotic diseases, septic diseases, and diseases of
the nervous system. The latter rank high in the infantile mortality.
The parishes which showed a death-rate above the average are Sorn ,
Mauchline, and the group of parishes which have a population under
2000. In the first of these we find a very high death-rate from dis-
eases of the respiratory organs, while in Mauchline the zymotic group
is much above the average rate. It need hardly be stated that the
death-rate in these two parishes - Sorn and Mauchline - is higher
than it should be. For a single year, in a community with a small
population, the death-rate may appear high owing to accidental
fluctuations, but a continuance over a number of years of death-rates
as we find in these two parishes would certainly indicate that there
was much sanitary work to be done in them.
Infantile Death-rate. - This is a very reliable test of the sanitary
state of a district, and we find it is somewhat higher in this district
than in the others. If the high infant mortality which we find in the
parishes of Sorn and Mauchline were maintained for a lengthened
period, it would be circumstantial evidence that the sanitation of such
places was far from being what it should be.
Zymotic Death-rate. - This is somewhat above the average for
the county. In regard to the individual zymotic diseases, diphtheria
is the highest. With the exception of sporadic cases in various
parishes. Mauchline is the only place where the mortality from this
disease may be considered excessive. Since 1886, 17 deaths occurred
in the parish of Mauchline. Of these 15 were in the village and two
outside the village.

DEATHS FROM DIPHTHERIA IN THE VILLAGE
OF MAUCHLINE.

[Table inserted]

The population of the village of Mauchline was 1454 in 1891,
having declined 162 since 1881. Besides 4 deaths from diphtheria
(1 in 1883, 1 in 1886, 1 in 1887, and 1 in 1888) in the landward
part of the parish, the above are all the deaths from diphtheria which
appear in the parish registers for the last ten years. It was impos-
[impossible]