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17
THE PREVALENCE OF DISEASE.
The Infectious Diseases.—For administration purposes the infectious diseases are divided
into two classes, those which the householder is obliged by law to notify to the Medical Officer of
Health and those which are not compulsorily notifiable.
Notifiable Infectious Diseases.—In Kensington the following diseases are compulsorily
notifiable:—
Small-pox
Plague.
Cholera.
Diphtheria.
Erysipelas.
Scarlet Fever.
Typhoid or Enteric Fever
Typhus Fever.
Relapsing Fever.
Puerperal Fever.
Cerebro-spinal Fever.
Glanders.
Anthrax.
Hydrophobia.
Glanders, Anthrax and Hydrophobia in man were made notifiable on April 26th, 1909, with
a view to affording further facilities for dealing at the earliest possible opportunity with the animal
sources from which human beings almost invariably acquire the infection of these diseases. Only
one case of glanders was notified during the year, the patient being a man who had suffered from
a chronic form of the disease for several years. Cerebro-spinal fever was again made notifiable for
a further period of 12 months from March 13th, 1909.
SMALL POX.
No case of Small Pox occured in Kensington during the year, but a patient suffering from
erythema was notified as small pox in error. 16 cases of small pox were notified in London and
of these eight occurred in the Borough of Stepney. A young man who had been in contact with
small pox came daily to a workshop in Kensington where one other person was employed. He
was vaccinated on my recommendation on the evening of the first day following the receipt of the
notification and was kept under supervision for 14 days.
DIPHTHERIA.
During the year 169 cases of diphtheria were notified and of these 19 proved fatal. The disease
was sporadic in its incidence, and showed no excessive prevalence save in the month of August
when 24 cases were notified as compared with the monthly average of 14.