Public Health and Disease

Riis documents the deadly impact of unsanitary living conditions, including outbreaks of typhus, smallpox, and high infant mortality, and criticizes the inadequate public health response.

High mortality rates, cholera epidemics, and deaths from suffocation in unventilated rooms are documented, with death rates as high as 75 per 1,000 in some tenements.

The threat of cholera and smallpox drives reform, and the chapter highlights the link between tenement conditions and disease.

Sanitary conditions are dire, with health inspectors finding rooms at 115°F, babies dying for lack of fresh air, and the official reduction of breathing space to 400 cubic feet per adult.

Discusses cases of consumption possibly linked to tobacco fumes, but notes that death records do not show a high rate among Bohemians.