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88
DIPHTHERIA.
During 1902, 49 deaths were registered in the Borough of
Lambeth from Diphtheria, and a total of 459 cases notified, giving
a case-mortality of 10.7 per cent. Of the 459 cases notified,
347 (i.e., 75.6 per cent.) were removed to Hospital, and 38 died,
giving a case-mortality of 10.9 amongst the patients treated in
Hospital; whilst 112 (i.e., 24.4 per cent.) were treated at home,
and 11 died, giving also a case-mortality of 9.9 amongst the
patients treated at home. The difference in these case-mortalities
is disappearing—a fact to be explained, in part, by the
antitoxin-treatment that all Hospitals, and most home-treated
patients now have the advantage of having, and the greater care
in nursing that is procurable in Hospital (whither the most
severe cases are sent).
The case-mortality rate for the whole of the Borough of Lambeth
during 1902 is low, pointing to the mildness of the majority
of cases.
The sudden decrease in the number of Diphtheria cases
throughout the new Borough of Lambeth during 1902 is again
remarkable, as it was during 1901, and will be seen, on comparison
with the yearly mortality average of the 10 years (1891-1900)
for the old Parish of Lambeth. This yearly average is 128, so
that during 1902 there has been a decrease in the mortality-rate,
in comparison, of 61.7 per cent. So, too, if the number of notifications
received during 1902 in the Borough of Lambeth be
compared with the yearly average of the 10 years (1891-1900) for
the old Parish of Lambeth, i.e., since the Notification Clauses of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, came into force, the same
remarkable decrease will be noticed, viz., a decrease of 36.2 per
cent. The yearly average of the old Parish is 715, and the
number for the Borough for 1902 is 459. Fortunately the comparison
can be extended further, and made for many years past
as the statistics for Diphtheria have been worked out in connection
with the old Parish, and are as follow : —
* 78 buttles of antitoxin have been gratuitously distributed in Lambeth
Borough during 1902, with most satisfactory results.