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whether any particular patient could justifiably be considered
to be suffering from Dysentery. There is no doubt that the
number of notifications received, which totalled 19, represented
only the severer cases of this infection, and formed
only a small part of the total.
None of the cases was admitted to isolation hospital,
although some received treatment in general hospitals.
Enquiries which were made failed to identify any particular
food or drink as the primary source of infection, but it is
probable that the illness owed its persistence to a large extent
to mild ambulatory cases, or to incompletely recovered cases
handling food stuffs consumed by other members of the public.
Scarlet Fever. The incidence of scarlet fever, again of a
mild type, was much the same as in the year before. 129
cases were notified compared with 127 in 1936, giving an
incidence rate of 1.96 per 1,000 population, as compared with
a rate of 2.33 for the country as a whole. Of the total cases
115 (89 per cent.) were removed to isolation hospital.
It was more prevalent in the three wards—Bushey Mead,
Ravensbury and St. Helier which have the densest populations.
The summer months had the lightest incidence. There were
no "return" cases.
No person died of scarlet fever during the year.