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65
at home, and 13 died, giving a case-mortality of 16.3 per
cent. amongst the patients treated at home.
The case-mortality rate for the whole of the Borough of
Lambeth during 1905 is low, pointing to (1) the mildness of the
majority of cases notified, and (2) the great value of antitoxin
in the treatment of Diphtheria, especially in the very early
stages of the disease.*
The sudden decrease in the number of Diphtheria cases
throughout the new Borough of Lambeth during 1905 is again
remarkable, as it was during 1904, 1903, 1902 and 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 1905 there has been a decrease in
the mortality-rate, in comparison, of 7.8 per cent. So, too, if the
number of notifications received during 1905 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, a similar (larger) decrease will be noticed, viz., a
decrease of 38.6 per cent. The yearly average of notifications
for the old Parish is 715, and the number received for the
Borough for 1905 is 439. 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 shown on the following page (66), as far as
mortality is concerned.
Even allowing for the slight fallacy that may arise from comparing
statistics of the old Parish with those of the new Borough
of Lambeth, the extraordinary sudden decrease in the mortality
from Diphtheria is most remarkable, and, when taken in conjunction
with the equally extraordinary and equally sudden
* 74 Bottles of antitoxin have been gratuitously distributed in Lambeth
Borough during 1905 as compared with 69 during 1904.
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