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127
[1906
SCARLET FEVER.
1,386 cases were notified, as compared with an average of 1,366 in the
preceding 10 years, and the attack rate was equal to 4.02 per 1,000 of the
population, as compared with a decennial rate of 3.96.
The number of cases gradually increased from the beginning of the year,
for while 277 were notified in the first quarter they grew to 307 in the
second quarter, to 341 in the third quarter, until they reached 461 in the
fourth quarter. Fortunately the type of the disease was very mild, so that
only 37, or 27 per cent., died. Although the number of cases was more than
usual, the rate was less than that of the County of London, in which it
was 4.31, and of the Encircling Boroughs, where it was 423 per 1,000.
Hospital Isolation.-As many as 1,226, or 88.4 per cent., of the cases
were removed to hospital. This is a very large proportion, and without doubt
the removals largely tended to prevent the spread of the disease in many
houses let in lodgings or tenements, and also to safeguard the London County
Council Schools from infection.
Fatality.-Out of the 1,386 cases, only 37 patients, or 2.6 per cent., died.
This fatality is in marked contrast with that of 15 years ago, for an
examination of the returns shows that at that period it amounted to 6.8 per
cent.