Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-07-17
DIPHTHERIA.

Although the present summer III 1sc" ioih
Is considered the healthiest for SIX years, yet
an exception to the general decline ot mortality
IN ,N diseases has been furnished by diphtherla.
mi. lualady has exhibited iu that city per-
si.tepcy, maiguaucy aud fatality during the
,a.r two years which are singular. If not uu-
arcouutabIe 1t destroyed l, Isl lives last year
and it destroyed SIS more during the ttst
twcu,y- FIVE weeks of this year. A loss OF ninety
three lives mouth during eighteen months ln
successlOn is heavy mortality trOm dlphtherla
A. the present moment the number OF cases
under treatment is greater than at any time
within TWO years. Ii appears that during the
fity-two weeks ending ou the 4th inst. there
we're reported to the board OF health ,, 81
cases of diphtheria. against 919 cases the pre-
yiuus year though in the former ure Included
over POO cases from the annexed districts Of
Westchestcr county. Dcducting these, the
cases reported during the year ended July 4
would be about double the number oil the year
previous but DR.. Harris says that at least i've
times as many cases exist as are reported. In
January last the number reported was 5S per
week; in February, 43 in April, 81, and 10 Il e
week ending July 4 it was 64. The mortality
from diphtheria for the year ending on 4th
iustaut was |, 344, aud over 60 per cent. OF this
mortality was among children under five years
of age.
DR.. Harris says that the repeated reappear-
auce Of this disease in places where 1t had pre-
vailed mouths ago indictes some kind OF local
cause iavoriDg the propagation OF the malady:
He asks for more efficient drainage, drying aud
cleansing in the infected districts, especially II
they contain asylunls or tenement houses. lie
considers that dlphtheria and scarlatlna are
closely united in their destructive course, and
damage for life even more victims than they
KILL
DR.. Simon, chief of the Eugsh sanitary ser
vice, says that the best precautionary means TO
prevent the spread Of diptheria IN an attacked
dlstrcr are, first, to provide as Tar as possible
that all inhabited premises be clean, dry,
abundanty ventilated, not overcrowded, aud
free from filth or damp round about them; sec
ondy, to prevent Especially as regards the
yuung) all unnecessary Intercourse with dlp-
lherial patients for instance. to keep each sick
room free from persons who are not of use or
comfort to the sick, and to take care that child
rem with sore throat be not at school with other
children. Systematic measures should be adop-
ted for a thorough removal of Otfal and refuse
about dwellings, for whitewashing the Interiors,
aud for such reconstruction of windows as will
secure good ventilation. When the earth close
about dwellings is sodden with moisture (which
usually will be foul), freshly burnt lime or pow
dered freshly burnt charcoal should be freely
sirewn over the surface. Ii seems 10 be clear
that when once diptherla has gained footing IN
district, it remains two or three years, or else
returns again aud again; and accordingly all
appliances once taken with success against the
maiady should be kept up even when 1t has de-
cIined or has temporarily disappeared
Comparing the ravages of diptherla ID New
York, as already given, with those of the dis
ease in Philadelphia during the same periods
We find remarkable difference, to the advan-
tage of our CITY, To begin with the total num-
Der of deaths ascribed to this cause last year
with US was but 100, whereas the lumber III
New York was, as We have seen, l,l5l, or
more than ten times as many; and yet the
population of New York at the last census was
but little over 40 per cent larger than ours.
Again, while diptheria in New York during
the year 1878 was unusually prevalent, here
the deaths showed decrease Of 40 from the
previous year Oh the 10 deaths, 81 were OF
males and SO OF females; Is occurred 10 the
first quarter of the year, % IN the second, 4
IN the third, and % 10 the fourth; and So OF
the deaths occurred in the ages under i've
Years, Is between FIVE and ten, between ten
and fifteen, between fifteen and twenty, be-
t~ccO twenty dUQ tulTty, duu - DetWeeu shi'y
and forty.
More remarkable yet is the fact that great
decline has occurred 10 our city during the past
fourteen years, in the deaths attributed to dip
iberia. Thus, for example, in 1860 there
were 3O7 such deaths; the next year, SOP; the
next 325, the next. 434; the next, 357; the next
zoo, and so on; but in 1869 there had come to
be but lS2; the next year there were liz; the
next, l45; the next, $50, and las, year. as We
have seen, ITO. This has caused the Board
Of Health TO observe that very marked de.
crease in the mortality from diphtheIia, and
10 the ratio of deaths to the mortality from all
causes. has taken place siuce the year lSG5.and
that this disease is no longer, as formerly, one
Of the most prominent causes OF death. Sluce
then, in fact, the average annual number OF
deaths has been l4S, while for the preceding
six years it was 364 The number Of deaths
and the ratio to the total mortality we've both
decidedly less last year than 10 any OF the
preceding thirteen years. rs.-PhH Record.