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It will be noted that all* the notified Smallpox patients, who
were infectious, were removed to Hospital, whilst the large
percentages of Scarlet Fever, Typhoid, and Diphtheria patients
also removed to Hospital are again cause for congratulation.
Yearly, more and more Typhoid patients are being removed to
Hospital, where treatment is more satisfactory, and where
proper precautions can be taken to prevent the spread of the
disease—a practical impossibility in the crowded homes of the
poor, or even in the homes of the middle-classes. The discharges
from the bowels and kidneys are infectious, and many ways
suggest themselves by which the germs can be transferred from
infected to non-infected persons during nursing.
Taking the total number of notified cases of infectious diseases
(excluding Chicken-pox) during 1903, it will be noticed that the
zymotic incidence throughout the Borough of Lambeth is less
than it has ever been since the Notification Act, 1899, came
into force (vide Table K), a fact to be explained in part by the
favourable meteorological conditions that existed during 1908.
The total number of notifications received during 1903 is
41.8 per cent. below the average (Parish) of the ten years
(1891-1900), and less than those received during either 1901 or
1902.
There is again a marked decrease in the number of Diphtheria
certificates received during 1903, i.e., 53.9 per cent. below the
* One patient (convalescent and free from infection when notified) was
not removed to Hospital.