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All parts of the town have been affected and although several
investigations have been set on foot it has been found impossible
to find any common factor explaining the incidence of the disease.
The diphtheria has been of a serious type and the paralyses
which are a feature of the later stages of diphtheria have been
pronounced and have required very long and careful convalescences.
There were 13 deaths out of a total number of 358 cases, making
a percentage death rate of 3.6.
Anti-toxin is readily available for all cases. This is kept at
the Fire Station and may be obtained at the hospital, but in most
cases (as is shown by the table on page 71), patients requiring
anti-toxin are removed to hospital.
(b) Scarlet Fever.—The number of cases notified was 178
compared with 277 the previous year. Two fatal cases occurred.
141 cases were isolated at the local Infectious Hospital. The
average stay of scarlet fever cases in the Municipal Hospital was
44 days, compared with 39 days in 1929. The longest period of
detention was 191 days and the shortest 11 days.
Sex.—80 cases were male and 98 female.
Evidence in Barking is not sufficiently extensive to warrant
any opinion as to the correlation between scarlet fever and puerperal
fever.