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1909]
116
THE NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, Membranous Croup, Enteric or Typhoid Fever,
Erysipelas, Continued Fever, Relapsing Fever, and Cholera.
These infectious diseases are notifiable under the 55th section of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and are usually known as the principal
epidemic diseases.
Altogether 2,049 cases were notified and are 366 below the corrected
average of the preceding 10 years. They are also 240 less than the number
notified in 1908.
In proportion to the population, the cases represented 5.83 attacks per 1000,
as contrasted with a mean rate of 6.87 during the years 1899-1908.
In the table given below it will be observed that of late years there has been a
gradual reduction in the number of cases notified annually. This is best discerned
if they are split up into quinquennial periods. Thus from 1891 to 1895 there
were 10,190 notifications, from 1896 to 1900, 14,367, from 1901 to 1905 11,592,
while from 1906 to 1909 (4 years), there were 8,676. Consequently it is seen that
in the first period the cases averaged 3,238 per annum, in the second
2,873, in the third, 2,318, and in the last four years 2,169. It is satisfactory to
note that, compared with the preceding 10 years, there has been a decrease in
each of the infectious diseases except Scarlet Fever, the increase from which
is, however, so insignificant as to be a negligible quantity. It is only 2.