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44
Of these deaths 4 (including the naval case) were of persons who contracted
and succumbed to the disease outside of St. Pancras. Of the notified St.
Pancras cases 21 died, the case mortality being therefore 55.3 per cent.
The above figures include three cases notified as post-basic meningitis, two
of which died. Only one of these—a fatal case—could be clearly differentiated
from cerebro-spinal meningitis.
An analysis of the 1915 cases of the disease was published by the writer in
Public Health (1915, page 193), and the remainder of this section is an abridgement
of this (including the first case, which took its onset in 1914).
The cases are classified below according to the manner in which the diagnosis
was confirmed:—
(1) 18 cases. Meningococci isolated in culture from the cerebro-spinal
fluid during life (15), or from the cerebro-spinal fluid or meningitic
exudate post-mortem only (3).
(2) 10 cases. Meningococci identified by cytological examination only
of the cerebro-spinal fluid during life (6), or of the cerebro-spinal
fluid or meningitic exudate post-mortem only (4).
(3) 3 cases. Diagnosis confirmed by post-mortem examination without
any bacteriological tests.
(4) 6 cases. Diagnosis made on clinical grounds only.
Thus at least 28 of the 37 cases were considered to be bacteriologically confirmed;
and of the remaining 9 cases, 3 presented the appearances of the
disease post-mortem.
The London County Council offered free facilities for bacteriological diagnosis
of this disease, through the Borough Medical Officer of Health, and this
was taken advantage of in a number of cases.

* From 1913 onwards the notifications were corrected for errors of diagnosis, etc.; this
was not so for former years.