Defining and Managing Infant Mortality: A Case Study of Philadelphia, 1870-1920

Abstract

A Case Study of Philadelphia, 1870Philadelphia, -1920 Historically, public health workers, physicians, and reformers have used the infant mortality rate as an indicator of the goodness of a society-its general welfare, the justness of its political system, the efficacy of its public works, the benevolence of its powerful; a high rate of death among the very young was an index of a community's shame. These views of the infant mortality rate as reflecting general characteristics of a society were widely displayed in the second half of the nineteenth century even as most disease entities were becoming more narrowly defined and ordinarily linked not to the nature of society or individual predisposition but to specific pathological organisms. Using Philadelphia as a case study, we examine the history of the infant mortality rate from 1870 through 1920, both the technical aspects of its calculation and its use as an indicator of broad societal problems and a catalyst for policy. Our emphasis is not on explaining the trends in the death rates of the very young but on the uses and meanings given to the infant mortality rate during the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century specifically as they related to three efforts to lower infant death rates-removing infants from the city, improving the supply of milk, and establishing child hygiene programs.

The effects of wealth, occupation, and immigration on epidemic mortality from selected infectious diseases and epidemics in Holyoke township, Massachusetts, 1850−1912

“…We focused on infectious diseases that caused significant epidemics in the 19 th century United States (Condran and Murphy 2008) and were continually present in Holyoke between 1850 and 1912. The ten causes in our analysis include eight infectious diseases listed in the first edition of the International Classification of Disease: diphtheria and croup, influenza, measles, meningitis, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhoid, and whooping cough.…”

Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880–1920

“…The "infant mortality rate" is the number of infants less than one year of age who died during a year divided by the number of births in that year. The historical literature on U.S. infant mortality includes Cheney (1984), Condran and Lentzner (2004), Condran and Murphy (2008) and Preston and Haines (1991). Seminal contributions include Cain and Rotella (2001), on water and sewerage infrastructure by major city; Condran and Cheney (1982), on mortality changes within Philadelphia; Condran and Crimmins-Gardner (1978), demonstrating the importance of public works in the decrease of waterborne diseases; Ferrie and Troesken (2008), on clean water and a general decline of nonwaterborne diseases; and Meeker (1972), a pioneering piece on waterborne disease and river spillovers.…”

The Evolution ofCampylobacter jejuniandCampylobacter coli

“…Although the disease was first recognized by Theodor Escherich in 1886, who described the symptoms of intestinal Campylobacter infections in children as "cholera infantum" (Samie et al 2007) or "summer complaint" (Condran and Murphy 2008), difficulties in the culture and characterization of these organisms precluded their recognition as major causes of disease until the 1970s. Campylobacteriosis is usually nonfatal and self-limiting; however, the symptoms of diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and nausea can be severe (Allos 2001), and sequelae, including Guillain -Barre syndrome and reactive arthritis, can have serious longterm consequences.…”