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35
Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth.
REPORT ON AN OUTBREAK OF
MILK-BORNE DIPHTHERIA IN UPPER
NORWOOD, NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER,
1913.
Incidences of the disease.
At the end of November and the beginning of
December, 1913, the numbers of notified cases of
diphtheria in Upper Norwood increased beyond the
average for that time of year—not only in Lambeth, but
also in the neighbouring districts of Croydon, Penge,
Camberwell, Lewisham, and Beckenham. 117 cases
were notified, 31 inside the Borough of Lambeth
and 86 outside the Borough, viz., Croydon 42, Penge 19,
Camberwell 14, Lewisham 7, and Beckenham 4. 26 of
the patients were secondary or "contact" cases, i.e., cases
occurring secondarily in, or in connection with, previously
notified infected houses. Fortunately, there was only one
death out of the total of 11 7 cases notified, whilst the type
of the disease, generally speaking, was mild. Table 1.
gives full details of the notified cases. Further, noticeable
features of the outbreak were the ages and sex of the
notified patients (chiefly women) and their social standings
(the infected houses beine principally of the better, or
even the best, class). Of the 117 patients notified,
17 were under 10 years of age (4 males and 13 females)
and 100 were over 10 years of age (36 males and
64 females). 2 patients were under 5 years of age (1
male and 1 female), 18 over 40 years of age (3 males
and 15 females), and 4 over 60 years of age (all
females). Full details are set out in Table II. A comparatively
large number of servants were infected, whilst
the actual large number of adults infected is specially
noteworthy.