HH62/2/LANARK/70

Transcription

[Page] 69

death-rate; while Bothwell ranks second in both, having
an infantile death-rate of 144 per 1,000 births. It is
significant that in Glasford, which has the lowest total
death-rate, no death was registered of an infant under 1
year; while in Dalziel, with the next lowest total death-
rate, the infantile mortality was only at the rate of 41 per
1,000 births.

Zymotic Diseases. - The chief infectious diseases caused
449 deaths - the most fatal being diarrhœa, which was
credited with 145 deaths. The total zymotic rate for the
year is 3·13 per 1,000, and is made up as follows:-
Diphtheria, --- 0·426 per 1,000
Scarlet Fever, --- 0·370 per 1,000
Enteric or Typhoid Fever, --- 0·398 per 1,000
Measles, --- 0·566 per 1,000
Whooping Cough, --- 0·335 per 1,000
Diarrhœa, --- 1·013 per 1,000
Other, or doubtful, --- ·028 per 1,000
[Total] --- 3·136 per 1,000

Diphtheria. - The death-rate from diphtheria (0·426 per
1,000) is a comparatively high one, and varies considerably
in the different divisions, from ·221 per 1,000 in the First, to
·508 in the Third. There can be little doubt but that
diphtheria is pre-eminently a preventable disease, and de-
pends largely for its propagation on bad drainage, foul
air, and insanitary conditions generally.

Scarlet Fever. - The deaths registered as due to scarlet
fever numbered 53, a rate per 1,000 of 0·370, which must
be regarded as, on the whole, fairly satisfactory, considering
the highly infectious nature of the disease, and the favour-
able opportunities for spreading among children living in
the long rows of cottages so common in the district. Of
the divisions, the First suffered most heavily, with a rate of
0·442 per 1,000; the Second next, with 0·408; while the
Third Division was more fortunate, with a rate of 0·266 per

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1,000. These figures, as will afterwards be more clearly
seen when dealing with the operations of the Infectious
Diseases Act, fairly represent the comparative prevalence
of this troublesome malady in the different parts of the
Middle Ward.

Enteric or Typhoid Fever. - In order to prevent mis-
apprehension, it may be well to state here that the term
"typhoid fever" is being generally discarded in this
country as giving rise to some misconception, and that the
term "enteric fever" is gradually being substituted. The
latter is the one generally used in this report.
Fifty-seven (57) deaths were attributed to enteric fever
during the year 1891 in the landward portion of the Middle
Ward, and of these 38 took place in the Second Division,
and 19 in the Third. The rate per 1,000 of the population
is 0·398 for the whole Ward, 0·431 for the Second Division,
and 0·460 for the Third - no death, as already indicated,
having been registered from this cause in the First Division.
This is a high death-rate when it is considered that for the
last eight or ten years the mortality from enteric fever has
been declining throughout the country generally - the
average in England and Wales for the eight years 1881-8
being as low as 0·2 per 1,000, or half that of the Middle
Ward for 1891. In the eight principal towns of Scotland
the rate for the year 1890 was ·19 per 1,000, and still less,
probably, for the whole of Scotland. In Table VIII., p. 76,
will be found the number of deaths in each parish, ranging
from 1 in Shotts to 16 in Bothwell.
Fuller reference is made to the incidence of enteric fever
and its probable significance under the heading of the
Infectious Diseases Notification Act, p. 63.

Measles. - Owing to an epidemic in Bothwell Parish,
and particularly at Hamilton Palace Colliery and neigh-
bourhood, a large number of deaths was reported as due to
measles, viz., 81, equal to a rate per 1,000 of 0·566 for the
whole ward. In this disease the fatal result is usually