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88
terminated fatally, as compared with 15.7 in 1896, 21.2 in 1895, 14.1 in 1894, and
15.3 in 1893.
The distribution of the cases and deaths amongst males and females in the four
registration districts of the parish, are shewn in the subjoined table:—

Eleven cases were notified amongst children under 10 years of age; 35 amongst
persons 10 to 20 years; 32 amongst persons aged between 20 and 30 years; 20 amongst
persons aged between 30 and 40 years; 8 amongst persons aged between 40 and 50
and there was one case in which the patient was over 50 years of age.
Of the cases notified 62.6 per cent. were removed to various hospitals, mostly
those of the Metropolitan Asylum's Board. The cases of enteric fever notified in the
Metropolis during 1897 numbered 3,113, which gives with the population an attackrate
of 0.69 per 1,000 inhabitants. The Metropolitan death-rate due to enteric fever
was 0.12 per 1,000 of the estimated population.
So far as could be ascertained the great majority of the cases in Shoreditch
appeared to have been contracted within the parish. In none of the cases was there
any evidence pointing to the milk consumed being the source of infection. In one
instance it is possible that infection may have been conveyed through eating a
portion of a pear which had been handled by a patient who was suffering from an
attack of enteric fever. In two cases in which it is probable that the disease was
contracted outside the parish, it was thought that some oysters, which had been
consumed might have been the cause, but the evidence as to this was not conclusive.
None of the cases of enteric fever which occurred in Shoreditch during the fourth
quarter of the year were traceable to the Maidstone outbreak.