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34
It will be noted that all the Smallpox patients were removed
to Hospital, whilst the large percentages of Scarlet Fever,
Typhoid, and Diphtheria patients also removed to Hospital are
again cause for congratulation. Yearly more and more Typhoid
patients are being removed to Hospital, where treatment is more
satisfactory, and where proper precautions can be taken to prevent
the spread of the disease—a practical impossibility in the
crowded homes of the poor, or even in the homes of the middleclasses.
The discharges from the bowels and kidneys are infectious,
and many ways suggest themselves by which the germs
can be transferred from infected to non-infected persons.
Taking the total number of notified cases of infectious diseases
(excluding Chickenpox) during 1902, it will be noticed that the
zymotic incidence throughout the Borough of Lambeth is
higher than it was during 1901, and this fact is to be explained
by the Smallpox outbreak.
Table K gives the averages of notification certificates received
in the Borough, and in the old Parish of Lambeth since 1891,
and it will be noted that during 1902 (in comparison) the number
of notification certificates received in connection with the
Borough of Lambeth is a little over the average, as is also the
incidence per 1,000 of the population during 1902, taking the
average of the decennium 1891-1900 for the old Parish.
The one Cholera case notified was probably Cholera Nostras
(English Cholera), or Epidemic Diarrhœa.
There is again a marked decrease in the number of Diphtheria
certificates received during 1902, i.e., 35.8 per cent. below the
average of the statistics of the Parish of Lambeth for 10 years,
and a decrease of 10.2 per cent. from those received in the
Borough in 1901. The 459 Diphtheria cases occurred in 420
infected houses, and in only 9.8 per cent. of these were the
drains, on testing, found defective.
The Scarlet Fever notifications were one below the average
of the Parish of Lambeth statistics for the 10 years 1891-1900.
The cases occurred in 1,164 infected houses, and in 11.8 per
cent. of these, the drains were, on testing, found defective.