Nine months ending September 30, 1915 The net results of the registration of births, deaths, infant mortality, and deaths from important causes may be seen in the comparative table in which the total numbers and rates for the nine months ending September 30, 1915, are displayed; also the corresponding figures for the quarter ending September 30 and for the first half of the year. The total number of births registered to date for 1915 (181,927) exceeds the number registered for the corresponding portion of any previous year and the rate, 24 per 1,000, is slightly in excess of that for 1914 (23.8) and for the five-year period, 1910-1914 (23.7). It is certain, however, that the birth registration during the five-year period, espe cially in the earlier years, was very incomplete and it would seem that there must be a considerable number of births which still escape registration. The death rate for the first nine months of the year (14.7 per 1,000) is also slightly lower than the rate for the corresponding portion of 1914 (14.9) and nearly a point lower than the average rate for the five years, 1910-1914 (15.6). Infants under one year also show a marked reduction in mortality for 1915 and 1914 (104 and 105 respectively) as compared with the rate for the five-year period, 1910-1914 (117). Similar data are shown for the individual causes of death. Typhoid fever was markedly less fatal during 1915, the rate being only 6.5 per 100,000 population as compared with 10.8 for the five-year period preceding; measles and scarlet fever also show notable amounts of reduction, but whooping cough maintained about the same mortality and diphtheria showed only a small decrease. Tuberculosis showed but slight reduction, 167.2 for 1915 as compared with 176.3 for the preceding five years. Cancer continued to increase, the rate for 1915 being 89.9 as compared with 85.6 for the preceding quinquennial period; pneumonia remaining practically stationary (about 170 per 100,000), but diarrheal diseases of infancy were somewhat less in 1915 and 1914 than during the past five years. In the detailed tables showing the deaths and sickness from important causes for the cities of the State individually and by group, the populations for all the cities for which information is available from the State census have been substituted for the estimated populations heretofore employed and the rates are based on the enumeration as of June 1, 1915. These rates based on the recent census are indicated by bold-face type for the individual cities, but the general order of the cities and the estimated populations as used for other cities, the summaries and the State totals, are as heretofore stated. CAUSES OF DEATH Excess OF RATE* SEPTEMBER, 1915 AUGUST, 1915 SEPTEMBER, 1914 SEPTEMBER, 1915 OVER Number Number Death of rate* deaths Number August, Septem- * Annual rate, all causes per 1,000 population; infants under 1 year per 1,000 living births; individual causes per 100,000 population. Excess of previous month or corresponding month of previous year over September, 1915, is denoted by minus sign (-). * Sickness from certain diseases is very imperfectly reported, hence the ratios of deaths to cases are not fully trustworthy. Percentages dependent upon small numbers are omitted, as indicated by asterisks. REPORTS OF DIVISIONS Division of Sanitary Engineering - September, 1915 Examination and approval of plans for sewerage and sewage disposal: Babylon; Bronxville; Tuckahoe; Cohoes; Westfield; Watertown; Mohansic State Hospital; Yorktown Heights Training School; Norwich; Catskill; Binghamton; Aurora; Amenia; Bergen; Gowanda; Callicoon. Investigations and reports of complaints relating to sewage disposal, stream pollution and public nuisances: Perrysburg; Lebanon; Hamburg; Akron; Schenectady; Oak Island Beach; Long Beach; Plandome; Port Washington; Cooperstown; Ontario Center; Ogdensburg. Investigations and reports of public water supplies: Wurtsboro; Jeffersonville; Wyoming; Whitehall; Davenport; Bloomville; Gilboa; Jefferson; Schoharie; Norwood; Clayton; Theresa; Piercefield; Cazenovia; Corning; Ellicottville; Goshen; Marlboro; Rosendale; Ithaca; Canandaigua. More important letters of advice were prepared and sent out to the following places: Whitney Point; Oswego; Niagara Falls; Heuvelton. Division of Laboratories and Research September, 1915 At the Rochester meeting of the American Public Health Association and of the Health Officers of the State researches of the laboratory staff were presented before the laboratory section by Mary Nevin and Boris Mann on “A Study of Cheese Causing Three Fatal Cases of Botulism," and W. S. Davis on A Comparative Study of the Growth of Bacillus Typhosus and B. Coli Communis under Different Conditions." Dr. Wadsworth presented researches on “The Effect of Hyperthermy on Pneumococcus Infection." Since October I the laboratory has been prepared to furnish to health officers and physicians of the State the new vaccine prepared from cultures of the inciting agent of whooping cough. Pertussis vaccine is used as a preventive and curative agent. Knowledge of its practical value is necessarily limited. The dosage may have to be increased or diminished in order to secure the most satisfactory results. However, from statistics which have been collated, the dosage will probably be increased rather than diminished, except in special conditions. Owing to lack of experience and such statistics as those obtained by Major Russell during the administration of typhoid vaccine to the army, a conservative procedure is recommended in the use of this vaccine. Directions for the use of the vaccine are to be found in the circular of information which accompanies each package. Distribution of diagnostic outfits, diphtheria, tuberculosis, ty- packages for the prophylaxis of ophthalmia neonatorum.. Examinations for diagnosis, diphtheria. tuberculosis typhoid fever syphilis gonorrhea miscellaneous Examination of samples of water, chemical. bacterial 166 193 278 1303 850 8 6 |