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49
Notifiable Infectious Diseases.
During 1908, under the Notification Clauses of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, 1,635 cases of infectious diseases
have been reported, and of this number 1,445—i.e., 88.3 per cent.
—were removed to the hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums
Board or to other hospitals, and 190—i.e., 11.7 per cent.—remained
under treatment at their homes. It is satisfactory to note
that the high percentage of removals to hospital recorded during
the past two or three years is still being maintained, the advantages
of early removal to hospital for isolation, etc., being considerable,
especially in districts like Battersea, where the opportunities
for safely retaining these cases for treatment at home are
in the vast majority of cases lacking. Indeed, were the facilities
provided by the Metropolitan Asylums Board not so generally and
intelligently availed of by the inhabitants of the Borough, much
greater difficulty would be experienced in preventing the spread
of infection in a congested and, as regards the greater part, industrial
district such as Battersea, more especially in years when
epidemic disease is prevalent.

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