Document NE42moogmK9pN6xL3x1x9j1by

Baltimore City Health Department WEEKLY LETTER TO THE MAYOR / In his WEEKLY LETTER TO THE HAYORJ^d-<)ctober 29, 1971, the Commissioner of Health wrote! Dear Mayor: The City Health Department's Bureau of Industrial Hygiene has just received 2 newly developed lightweight, portable X-ray lead analyzers which should greatly speed the detection of lead paint in Baltimore homes. Mr. Elkins W. Dahle, Jr., director of the bureau, reports that the machines, which cost $U,750 each, can determine during a sanitarian's inspection if the paint in a home has dangerous amounts of lead in it. Although trained sanitarians will begin using the new analyzers immediately, the usual method of scraping paint samples for later laboratory analysis will be continued for awhile in studies correlating the machines' readings with laboratory determinations. If sanitarians find there is more than one per cent of lead in paint in a home, they notify the owner to remove within 10 days all paint on chewing surfaces which a child can reach and all peeling paint elsewhere in the house. Although an effective law was passed in 1958 that virtually stopped all interior painting with paint containing lead, many houses built before that date still have lead paint in them. Such houses represent a A constant danger to young teething age children who eat peeling paint or chew on painted surfaces. To date in 1971 a total of 11 children have been diagnosed with lead paint poisoning while 28 children have been found with elevated blood lead levels indicating that eating paint had taken place. By purchasing the new digital lead analyzers, Baltimore continues in the forefront of the nation's, attack on the child lead paint danger. The investment should soon pay dividends in a speedier identification of dangerous dwellings, in paint removal, and in protecting our young. Very truly yours, (Signed) Robert E. Farber, M.D, Commissioner of Health B Llfc-76125 BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT STATISTICAL REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 28 i9CT WK. 43 BIRTHS Total recorded Residents only DEATHS Total recorded Residents only INFANT DEATHS Total recorded Residents only BIRTHS Total recorded Residents only DEATHS Total recorded Residents only INFANT DEATHS Total recorded Residents only WEEKLY SUMMARY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND INFANT MORTALITY Week Ending Oct. 28, 1971 Week End ir.g Ocl . 29 1970 TOTAL WHITE NONWHITE TOTAL WH 1 TE NONWHITE 407 264 270 137 NUMBER 137 127 499 362 26? 142 232 220 215 168 155 112 64 235 164 55 217 150 '_ 61" 8 5 3 10 3 4 2 2 10 3 7 7 18 , 614 12,743 10,175 8,221 CUMULATIVE NUMBER FOR YEAR TO DATE 10,355 5,028 8,259 7,715 19,536 13,236 11,337 5 565 6,741 4,975 3, 434 3,246 10,805 8,74? 7,305 5.409 ,433 339 188 109 245 230 474 336 236 118 8. -99 7 671 3 500 3.338 238 218 BIRTHS DEATHS INFANT MORTALITY 17.1 11.0 26.6 RESIDENT RATES* FOR YEAR TO DATE 12.7 12.6 21.7 22.0 9.3 29.8 17.7 11.7 25.4 13.8 13,4 21.2 22.2 97 28 4' *BIRTH AND DEATH RATES PER t,000 POPULATIONi INFANT MORTALITY RATE PER 1,000 LIVE BIRTHSi ALL RATES COMPUTED ON AN ANNUAL BASIS LIA-76126 N 840.01 WEEKLY STATISTICAL REPORT CASES OF REPORTABLE DISEASES, NON-RESIDENTS EXCLUDED WEEK ENDING October 28, 1971 D 1 SEASE Tuberculosis, active................................. Syphilis, primary and secondary......... Gonococcal infections............................... Infectious hepatitis................................. Meningococcal infections........................ Meningitis, other........................................ Encephalitis, infectious........................ Measles.............................................................. German measles.............................................. Mumps................................................................... Chickenpox........................................................ Diphtheria........................................................ Whooping cough............................................... Streptococcal infections........................ Poliomyelitis (paralytic cases)......... Typhoid fever................................................. Salmone11 os is................................................. Dysentery.......................................................... Diarrhea and enteritis............................. Lead poisoning............................................... Influenza.......................................................... Other reportable diseases...................... CASES CURRENT WEEK 9 0 173 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 8 4 Q 0 0 20 7 YEAR RANGE HIGH 32 13 238 17 2 9 4 4 10 4 0 0 11 0 0 15 20 1 1 0 LOW 1 1 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - YEAR TO DATE CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF CASES 1S71 1970 383 300 9,051 267 14 54 1 15 49 300 278 0 11 237 0 0 415 510 8 10 2 1,007 403 233 9 352 237 111 2 722 196 585 434 0 14 129 0 1 359 128 8 20 5 i . 084 MORTALITY BY MAJOR CAUSES, NON-RESIDENTS EXCLUDED CAUSE OF DEATH All Causes.................................................................... Diseases of the heart..................................... Cancer, all forms................................................ Cerebral hemorrhage.......................................... Diseases of the arteries and veins. Influenza and pneumonia............................... Diabetes.......................................................................... Cirrhosis of liver............................................. Tuberculosis (all forms)............................ Nephritis....................................................................... Puerperal causes................................................... Malformations and diseases of early infancy............................................. Suicides.......................................................................... Homicides....................................................................... Accidents Home.......................................................................... Industrial ...................................................... Automobile........................................................ Other public................................................... Other external causes..................................... Other specified causes.................................. CURRENT WEEK TOTAL 168 65 34 12 3 5 3 3 0 i 0 3 4 2 2 0 2 1 2 26 7 YEAR RANGE* HIGH 226 89 44 18 10 7 10 10 2 4 1 19 3 6 LOW 179 60 33 9 4 2 2 2 0 0 0 4 0 1 52 i0 72 30 ---- YEAR TO DATE CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF DEATHS 1971 6; 221 1970 8. 7 47 3.050 1,533 561 234 172 257 262 61 36 3 3 371 C 638 593 278 200 284 266 75 37 5 266 70 238 247 74 191 88 25 107 37 41 1. 18C 111 11 105 50 LIA-76127 * THE HIGH AND LOW FIGURES SHOWN ARE DERIVED FROM THE NUMBER OF CASES AND DEATHS FOR THE . .COMPARABLE WEEK FOR THE PERI 00 1 964 1 970 N 840.02