1870 — Diphtheria, esp. NY/864, PA/702, IL/603, OH/474, MO/356, MA/280 CA/255–>6,303

>6,303  Blanchard. (See Census Office note below on shortfalls in data compilation.)

—  6,303  U.S Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xvii.

 

AL            45    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

AZ            —     U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

AR            33    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

CA          255    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

CO              5    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

CT            56    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

DA (Dakota)1   U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

DE            36    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

DC            63    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

FL              8    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

GA            61    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

ID              —    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

IL           603    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

IN           241    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

IA           148    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

KS            46    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.           

KY          145    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

LA            66    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

ME           80    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MD         218    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MA         280    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MI          141    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MN           63    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MS            46    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MO         356    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

MT             1    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NE            12    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NV              9    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NH            51    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NJ           177    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NM           28    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NY          864    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

NC          145    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

OH         474    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

OR            34    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

PA          702    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.
Philly  172   
Jones. Contagious and Infectious Diseases. 1884, p. 196.[1]

RI             25    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

SC            28    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

TN            96    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

TX            95    U.S .Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

UT              6    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

VE            61    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

VA          239    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

WA           13    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

WV           60    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

WI          186    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.

WY             1    U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxii.  

 

Narrative Information

 

U.S. Census Office on the 1870 Census: “If the value of the Statistics of Mortality in a census of the United States, taken under existing laws, depended upon the return of substantially the whole body of deaths occurring during the year covered by the enumeration, the results would not be worth the space occupied by publication, much less the expense of collection and compilation. At no one of the three censuses taken under the act of May 23, 1850, has the aggregate number of deaths returned by the assistant marshals risen above two-thirds of the number of deaths probably occurring during the year of enumeration, as that number is deduced from the experience of other countries, from the experience of sections of our own country having an established system of registration, and from the ascertained law of the national increase. With such wholesale omissions from the number of deaths, therefore, if the Statistics Mortality depended for their value on any assumed completeness in the returns of assistant marshals, the whole would deserve a contemptuous rejection at the outset, and not an elaborate and expensive compilation and publication; but as matter of fact, the value of the following statistics arises from the consideration that these tables distribute a body of deaths approaching half a million,[2] among the several periods of life, between the two sexes, according to cause of death and month of death, by race, by nationality, and by occupation. Deeply as it is to be regretted that the census of the United States does not afford the material for determining exactly the death-rate of States and sections, and of deducing the effect of the various conditions of life upon the duration of life, from statistics complete and accurate in every particular, the Tables of Mortality in the census have still their value….

 

“It is easy to explain the cause of the wholesale omissions from the return of deaths in the census, which have been referred to. To take the recent census as an example, the census law required the return of all deaths occurring in families, from the 1st of June, 1869, to the 31st of May, 1870; in all, twelve months. The enumeration if the course of which this was to be accomplished began on the 1st of June, 1870, and closed, nominally, on the 1st of October, but really about the 1st of January, 1871. Thus, the officers of the census were called upon to recover all the deaths occurring during the census year, at a distance in time ranging from one day to nineteen months from the dates at which such deaths severally occurred. The antecedent improbability of success in such an attempt would be of the strongest; while the actual experience of three censuses has shown that assistant marshals fall short of the true number of deaths by not far from 40 per cent., as a rule. In some cases assistant marshals fail to put the question; in others, heads of families, or persons answering for them, fail to recall the fact of a death occurring during the year, especially when ten or eleven months have already elapsed since the date of death, and the mind, not unnaturally, refers to the even as having taken place a year or longer before. In still another large number of cases, persons die out of families, which class of cases seems not to have been in contemplation of the census law, which makes the return of mortality a family return. In still other cases, deaths occur in families, but the very death itself breaks up the family and scatters the surviving members, leaving no one to report the death in the census. In still other cases, deaths occur in what are constructively families for the purposes of the census, i.e., boarding-houses, hotels, &c., but the common tie of membership or association is here so casual and so slight that the chances are altogether against the circumstance being retained in memory six or eight months after….” (United States Census Office. “Remarks Upon the Statistics of Mortality.” P. ix.)

 

[Blanchard note: Other Census reports also mention the problem of correctly identifying the cause of death as well as the various competing names in circulation in areas or regions for the country for the same disease.]

 

Diphtheria, CDC:  “Diphtheria is a serious disease caused by a toxin (poison) made by bacteria. It causes a thick coating in the back of the nose or throat that makes it hard to breathe or swallow. It can be deadly. The DTaP vaccine protects against diphtheria…. Diphtheria starts like a cold, with sore throat, mild fever (101 degrees or less), and chills.  Next, the diphtheria toxin makes a thick coating on the back of the nose or throat. It may be blue or grayish green. The coating makes it hard to breathe or swallow… The coating on the throat can get so thick that it blocks the airway, so the person can’t breathe.

 

“The diphtheria toxin can attack the heart, causing abnormal heart rhythms and even heart failure. It can also attack the nerves, which leads to paralysis (unable to move parts of the body).

About 1 out of 10 people who get diphtheria dies. In children younger than 5 years, as many as 1 out of 5 children who get diphtheria dies.

 

“How does diphtheria spread?  Diphtheria spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. A person can spread the disease for up to 2 weeks after infection.

 

“What is the DTaP vaccine? The DTaP vaccine is a shot that combines the vaccines for diphtheria and two other serious diseases: tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis). The vaccine helps the body to build up protection against the diphtheria toxin.  Most children (about 97 children out of 100) who get all doses of the vaccine will be protected against diphtheria….”  (CDC. Vaccines and Immunizations. “Diphtheria – Fact Sheet for Parents.” 7-8-2013 update.)

 

Sources

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines and Immunizations. “Diphtheria – Fact Sheet for Parents.” 7-8-2013 update. Accessed 8-27-2013 at: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/diphtheria/fs-parents.html

 

Jones, Joseph, M.D., President of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana. Contagious and Infectious Diseases, Measures for Their Prevention and Arrest. Small Pox (Variola); Modified Small Pos (Varioloid); Chicken Pox (Varicella); Cow Pox (Variola Vaccinal): Vaccination, Spurious Vaccination Illustrated by Eight Colored Plates (Circular No. 2, Prepared for the Guidance of the Quarantine Officers and Sanitary Inspectors of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana.). Baton Rouge: Leon Jastremski, State Printer, 1884. Accessed 2-12-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=3VTboPycbBgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

United States Census Office, Dept. Interior.  Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics of the United States, Embracing The Tables of Deaths, Births, Sex, and Age. Washington: GPO, 1872. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=GssqAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

 

 

[1] Table: “Total Deaths from Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the past Fifteen Years–1862-1882.

[2] Number of deaths noted as 492,263 on page xvii.