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62
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
In my last Annual Report I mentioned the
Diphtheria. •
fact of the existence of Diphtheria in an
epidemic form during the last three months of 1896. In
the month of January, 1897, there were twelve further
cases notified. After this month, the disease became
sporadic. 46 cases were notified during the twelve
months, and seven ended fatally. This is equivalent to
a case mortality of 15 per cent.
Twenty-six cases were removed to hospital, and of
these three died.
Twenty cases were retained at home, and of these
J
four died. The greater mortality among those cases
retained at home, arose from the fact, that some of these
cases were considered to be in too serious a condition to
stand the fatigue of removal.
The death-rate of Diphtheria per thousand living
of the population was .33.
Under the head of Membranous Croup no notifications
were received. All such cases are now returned
under the head of Diphtheria.
Erysipelas.
Nine cases of this disease were notified. All
were of minor importance from a sanitary
point of view and resulted in no deaths.
Scarlet Fever.
Sixty-eight notifications were received under
this head. It is interesting to note that the
months when the greatest prevalence of Diphtheria obtained
were also those when the number of notifications of
Scarlet Fever reached the maximum. In the month of
November, 18 notifications were received, very much in
excess of the number received during any other month.
During the year 1896, there was a corresponding increase
in both these diseases during the latter three months, and