The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-14
HETEROGENEOUS | DISEASES IN MONTH Decided Decrease Shown In Dr. Cunningham's Report DEATHS BY VIOLENCE Total of Fifty in December of Which Eighteen Were Homicidal--Small-
 Pox Situation in Chattanooga
 Now Under Control
DEATHS BY VIOLENCE

remarkable decrease in contasious diseases during the. month of December ! appears to be the feature of the health | report made yesterday by Dr. R. NJ Cunningham, city health officer. Another feature of the report is the showing that there were in all 60 deaths by violence in the city during one month The death rate was 17.3o per thousand and the birth rate was 17.so, not nearly as much difference as has appeared in other months.
 Dr. Cunningham's Report Dr. cunningham's report in part is as follows:
 "I have the honor to herewith sub init my report for the month of Decem- Der, 1914, of the health department The mortuary rate of residents: White
 lo.90; black, 29,S6 total. t7.3o. Birth rate. White. 1920; black. 1857; total. f7.so Tho leading cause of death was violence Of which there were 50; suicidcal, two: ac- cidental. thirty; homicidal. IS. Tho health department has nothing to do with homi- cidal deaths, but the health officer em- phasizes the large number of homcdes. and hopes that 1t will call the atten- ton of the legal authorities of this coun- try to the importance of himicide as u cause of death
 There were six deaths from typhoid
 fever and only IA cases reported. This is a very great improvement in the incl
 dence of this disease. Typhoid fever, how
 ever. still remains the endemic disgrace
 of the city. Of these IA cases. three used
 dairy milk, and six used private COW
 milk. This again speaks well for the
 dairy. There were seven dry closets.
 seven sanitary closets This again em-
 phasizes the importance of sanitary con
 nections. Those using city water. Il; well water, three.
 Few Contagious Diseases
 'I call your attention to the rather remarkable low incidence of the strictly contagious diseases. For instance. there
 were only nine cases of diptheria and three of measles and 13 of scarlet fever. This reduction in the incidence of dip theria, which was 76 in October at tribute to the discovery of diptheria car riers by laboratory methods, the inspec- ton of school children, and the quaran- tine of carriers. Otherwise. diptheria would certainly have increased instead of being reduced from 76 to nine. There were no cases of smallpox Health con ditions in the city are excellent. or course, tuberculosis is not considered in this estimate of health conditions.
 An investigation of the smallpox situa- ton at Chattanoogh has been made, and the health commissioner of that city re- ports that from about the middle of Mo- vember there were 43 cases. of which ,8 died with malignant type of the disease. He reports that the disease was intro- lr1 Dc. I auf Af acknowledge to Commissioner Evans my obligations for the prompt snswer to my letter of inquiry. He also reported that the smallpox situation in Chattanooga was under control, there being only two cases this year. The committee of pub lie health of this county was called by the health officer who laid before tho committee the correspondence relative to the smallpox situation in Chattanooga The health officer advised and the com mittee concured in his recommendation that no quarantine be established against Chattanooga. The health officer calls attention, however, to the fact. which he has heretofore emphasized, that there is no protection against smallpox except vaccination, and he urges all who have not been vaccinated or who have been vas cinated without success. and all who have not been vaccinated within recent years to be vaccinated. This is very largely an individual matter, and upon such indi- vidual rests the responsibility. The only communal protection Is universal vac cination under legal authority.
 'T call attention to the faithful work of Messrs Burson and Duncan and their staffs. There Is a constant improvement in the dairy situation. l desire to call attention to the patrons of dairies to nos tice the score of the dairy they patron ize as one of the Inducements for still greater improvement is criticism by dairy patrons"