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The Boroughs that suffered most in the epidemic were Holborn
with a case-rate of 74 4 per 10,000 of population, and Stepney with a
case-rate of 51.5. Finsbury and the other Eastern Boroughs of
Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Poplar were also seriously involved.
The Boroughs least affected were Hampstead (3.1), Chelsea (5.8),
Kensington (6.4), Wandsworth (6.7), Fulham (7.4), and Lewisham (7.6).
The arrangements made by the Metropolitan Asylums Board for
dealing with the cases, so far as Chelsea is concerned, appear to have
been in every respect satisfactory. During the past year the Board, in
addition to the usual information previously supplied in regard to the
patients received at the hospitals, supplied also a daily list of deaths
and discharges, and notified to the Medical Officers concerned the
names and addresses of persons visiting the hospitals to see relatives,
and whether such visitors had been re-vaccinated at the hospital or not.
All this information has proved most serviceable.
Scarlet Fever.—This disease was slightly more prevalent in Chelsea
in 1902 than in 1901, the case-rate per 10,000 of the population being
27.6 in 1902, as compared with 25.6 in 1901. The autumnal rise in
prevalence of the disease in Chelsea was scarcely marked; and the
closure of the schools in August did not appear to exert any influence
on the disease as then prevailing. The per centage of cases of school
age (3 to 13 years) in Chelsea was 64 per cent. The number of cases
notified in North Chelsea was 95, and in South Chelsea 109. The
number of cases notified in the first quarter of the year was 40; in the
second quarter 52; in the third quarter 60; and in the fourth quarter 52.
Three cases admitted to the M.A.B. hospitals were subsequently
certified by the Medical Superintendents of those institutions not to be
suffering from Scarlet Fever, or any other notifiable disease.
Diphtheria.—The case-rate of this disease in Chelsea for 1902 was
17.7 per 10,000 of population, which is rather higher than the case-rate
for 1901 (14.3 per 10,000). In the first quarter of the year 18 cases
were notified; in the second quarter 29; in the third quarter 37; and
in the fourth quarter 47. The percentage of cases of school age (3 to
13 years) was 66 per cent. Out of the 131 cases notified in the year,
62 were notified in the last four months. There were no outbreaks in
the course of the year specially attributable to school infection. In
North Chelsea 79 cases were notified, in South Chelsea 52. Eight
cases admitted to the M.A.B. hospitals were subsequently certified by
the MediGal Superintendents of these institutions not to be suffering
from Diphtheria or any other notifiable disease.
Enteric Fever.—The number of cases of Enteric Fever notified in
Chelsea in 1902 was 36, the case-rate again being a low one, namely,
4.9 per 10,000 of the population, as against 5.3 in 1901, and 5.0 in
1900. Ten cases were notified in the 3rd quarter, and 12 in the fourth
quarter of the year. In North Chelsea 21 cases were notified, in South
Chelsea 15.