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119 [1910
In the Sub-Registration Districts.-49 cases were notified from
Tufnell, 94 in Upper Holloway, 63 in Tollington, 32 in Lower Holloway, 48
in Highbury, 109 in Bamsbury, and 7ti in Islington South-East. In Tufnell,
Lower Holloway, Highbury, and Islington South-East, the returns were all
below the average of the preceding 8 years, while in Upper Holloway, Tollington
and Barnsbury they were above it.
Hospital Isolation.—Out of 471 notified cases, 438, or 93.0 per cent.,
were removed to hospital for isolation and treatment, while only 33, or 7.0
per cent., were kept at home. Of the number treated in hospital, 332 were sent
to hospitals belonging to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, 311 of which went
to the North-Eastern Hospital, 16 to the North-Western Hospital, 2 to
the Eastern Hospital, and 3 to the Grove Hospital.
Fatality.—Among the 471 cases there were 34 deaths, so that the
fatality was 7.2 per cent., which is exactly the proportion experienced in
1909. At the close of the year a report on the distribution of antitoxin serum
for the treatment of Diphtheria was presented to the Public Health Committee
and afterwards by their orders to the Council, in which, on page 10, will be
found a table showing the fatality year by year from this disease in Islington
from 1891.
From that table it may be gathered that during the years 1891-1893 the
fatality was 23.0 per cent.; that during 1894 to 1900 it was 20.9 per cent.; and
that from 1901 to the present time it was 10.5 per cent. These figures represent
respectively the pre-antitoxin period, the antitoxin period in which antitoxin
serum was used largely, and the period in which the same serum was used
very largely. When one considers these figures, especially when taken in
conjunction with many other facts stated in that report, it cannot be doubted
that a new remedy of great potency has been introduced in the treatment of
the disease, a treatment which is chiefly due to Behring and Kitasato.
Speaking of the value of this remedy, well may the American author
already quoted, say:—" The mass of figures from all parts of the world in
" support of its value has become so overwhelming that it is neither possible
" nor necessary to specify them in detail. The series of Bayeaux, covering
" two hundred and thirty thousand cases of diphtheria, chiefly of hospitals, and
" hence of the severest type, showing that the death-rate has been reduced
" from over fifty-five per cent. to below sixteen per cent. already, and that this
" decrease was still continuing, will serve as a fair sample."