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13
Scarlet Fever.
7. There were 480 cases of Scarlet Fever notified, compared
with 61, 584, and 527 in the three preceding years. 331 or twothirds
of these cases went to hospital, whereas last year only
one half went. 5 died at home and 16 in hospital, giving
mortalities of 3.3 and 4.8 per cent, respectively. This is a great
improvement on last year when 29 died altogether and the
mortality was 4 per cent, at home and 8 per cent, at hospital.
8. About one-third of the cases of Scarlet Fever were pupils
attending the Slade Board School. During the first half of the
year the outbreak of the two last years appeared to be gradually
dying out, as it has done to a great extent in London as a
whole. But in June and July a number of cases occurred in
the Slade School, causing quite an epidemic in the neighbourhood.
This school had been very little affected in the two
preceding years, and therefore contained a large number of unprotected
children.
9. Apparently the disease was spread in the school by mild
undetected cases, for my locum tenens, Dr. Priestley in my
absence, and I myself on my return discovered several cases
which had not been notified.
On Dr. Priestley's advice and the Committee's recommendation,
the School Board closed the school on the 21st July until
the end of the summer holidays. On the reassembling of the
school I inspected every child in it, but found none with
symptoms of Scarlet Fever. The school had been, meantime,
thoroughly disinfected. The houses also where cases occurred
•were disinfected throughout. There was no special incidence of