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Referring to the cases of erysipelas which were notified, the medical officers of health of
Kensington and Lambeth state that many were not such as were contemplated by the framers of the
Act. The medical officer of health of Paddington states that two notifications were received during
the year from each of six houses, and three from two other houses. " In one of the two last instances
the mother was first ill and the disease was subsequently communicated to her two sons eight and ten
days later respectively. In the other case, three notifications were received during the year with
respect to one woman, aged 77, who had attacks in January, February and August. With respect to
the houses whence two cases were reported, in two the notifications dealt with the same patients, in two
others the attacks were in independent families, at considerable intervals, and were doubtless quite
unconnected; in one case the second attack was evidently contracted from the first; and in the last, one
of the two cases notified could not be traced or identified at all." The steps taken by sanitary authorities
are referred to by the medical officer of health of St. Pancras. In that district inquiry is made into the
circumstances of the case, the best isolation obtainable is advised, the bedding and clothing are
disinfected, sanitary inspection of the premises is made, and the drains tested.
Puerperal Fever.
The deaths in the Registration County of London in 1899 attributed to puerperal fever
numbered 209, the corrected annual average of the preceding ten years being 250.
The number of cases notified and the number of deaths registered in the Registration

1See footnote (2), page 3.