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42
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
much to do with causing its spread. The ages of those
reported as suffering from diphtheria is, therefore, of
interest. Taking the school age as from 3 to 14, there
were 74 cases between these ages, 22 were under 3 years
of age, and 29 above, the age of 14. The proportion
among those of school age to the total number of cases
was not so high as in previous years, but still there is
seen to be a special incidence since it includes over 59
per cent, of the total cases.

The cases were, therefore, remarkably evenly distributed
throughout the year. No very marked difference is
noticeable for August, the time of the school holidays.
Enteric Fever.—There were 34 cases reported as against
31 in each of the 2 preceding years, 3 cases of continued
fever were also notified There were 6 deaths from
enteric and 1 from continued fever. Here, as in the case
of diphtheria, the houses were thoroughly overhauled and
the defects found in the drains, &c. were remedied.
During the later months of the year there was exceptional
prevalence of enteric fever in some parts of London,
especially the West End, but that was not the case in
Clapham. It was suggested that in some instances this
was due to eating oysters that had been fed in sewage
polluted water. In some of the cases reported here it
was found that the patients had eaten oysters, as indeed,
was most likely, but I did not attach much importance
to the few instances discovered.