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Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria were more prevalent than in 1895;
the Board treated in their Hospitals 15,064 cases of scarlet fever and
4,889 of diphtheria. The Brook Hospital at Shooter's Hill was opened
for the reception of patients on August 31st. It provides accommodation
for 500 fever and diphtheria patients, and brings up the provision
made by the Asylums Board to about, in the aggregate, 5000 beds.
The Report of the Medical Superintendents to the Board on the
use of antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria during 1896 confirms
the favorable conclusions reached in the previous year. The per-centage
of deaths to cases, which was 29.5 in 1894, has fallen to 20.8 during
1896. The report draws attention to the importance of early treatment,
which experience shows to be the chief point, and adds that, in the
opinion of those signing the report, "we possess in antitoxin serum a
remedy of greater value in the treatment of diphtheria than any other
with which we are acquainted."
Measles occasioned 58 deaths, and proved to be the most fatal cause
of death among the zymotic class. No less than 3,697 deaths were
certified from measles in London during 1896, and the disease appears
to have been more fatal than in any year on record, with the single
exception of 1864. The epidemic commenced in this parish towards
the end of 1895, and attacked large numbers of young children in the
Netherwood Board School, spreading from that centre to the children's
homes in the adjacent streets. The children who died were nearly all
under five years of age, and many under two years, the parents of
whom were almost exclusively confined to the ranks of the working and
artizan classes.
The question as to the desirability of adding measles to the list of
infectious diseases notifiable under the provisions of the Act, has been
considered by the Public Health Committee more than once. Having
regard to the general susceptibility to measles, the young ages at which
the children are attacked, and the highly infectious pre-eruptive stage,
when it is difficult to distinguish the complaint from an ordinary
catarrh, it did not appear that the advantages to be gained were
adequate, or that public opinion was ripe for the measure. With