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to total cases was as follows:—East Battersea, 967;
North-West Battersea, 96.3; South-West Battersea, 82.8.
The percentage of cases removed to hospital, 93.8, is
considerably higher than the number recorded in any previous
year. In East and North-West Battersea nearly all the patients
notified were isolated in hospital. In no case was compulsion
employed, or even threatened, to effect removal.
During the year 1905, scarlet fever was usually prevalent
in Battersea and in the County of London generally. The
number of cases notified began to increase in August, reached
a maximum in the latter part of October and then began slowly
to decline. The case-rate, i.e., the number of cases notified per
1,000 population, was 4.51, a figure which although higher
than those of the two preceding years, is well below the
case-rate in 1902, and is much less than the rate in the years
before 1898.
In 144 cases there was a definite history of exposure to
infection from a previous case, in 55 other cases there were good
reasons for suspecting school infection, 23 were "return" cases
and 17 cases were infected outside Battersea. In the remaining
cases no information as to the source of infection could be
obtained. One case in the first-mentioned group was that of a
father who was infected while visiting his child who was
dangerously ill at the hospital. Of the school cases 16 occurred
in a large boarding school in the district, while in the remaining
cases the patients were children attending elementary schools.
One of the latter cases, a boy who had had a mild unrecognised
attack of scarlet fever, was discovered by his teacher while in
class pulling large pieces of skin from his hands. He and his
brother were at once taken home, and when I visited the house
shortly afterwards I found both boys to be in the desquamating
stage of scarlet fever.
Owing to the prevalence of scarlet fever one class-room in
the Infants' Department of Mantua Street School, two classrooms
in the Girls' Department of Latchmere School, and the