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The death-rate was 0.66 per 1,000 population as compared
with 0-45 the mean death-rate for the preceding ten years. The
death-rate in East Battersea was 0.65, North-West Battersea 1.12,
South-West Battersea 0.20 per 1,000.
The London death-rate for Measles was 0.57 per 1,000, there
being 2,570 deaths from this cause registered during 1911.
The number of deaths registered from measles in each of the
registration sub-districts in 1909, 1910 and 1911 is as follows :—

Eighteen deaths were of infants under one year and 87 of
children aged one to five years. Only 6 deaths occurred among
children over 5 years old.

The number of deaths from measles in Battersea during 1911
was the highest number recorded since 1905 when 124 deaths were
registered from this cause in the Borough. The disease began to
be prevalent towards the end of 1910 in Battersea as part of an
epidemic wave which spread through South London. No less
than 90 of the 111 deaths occurred in the first quarter of the year.
East and North-West Battersea suffered very heavily, while SouthWest
Battersea was only slightly affected. The heaviest mortality
occurred in the poorer and more crowded parts of the Borough
where the facilities for isolation and home nursing are wanting.
Vigorous measures were resorted to by the Health Department of
the Council to check the spread of the outbreak, each of the
district sanitary inspectors making a domiciliary visit to
houses in the localities affected. Leaflets were distributed
giving advice as to the precautions to be taken to prevent
the spread of infection and disinfection of the rooms was carried
out as soon as was practicable. As a result of the active steps
taken the outbreak was considerably checked, but the efforts of the
Sanitary authority were impeded through lack of some satisfactory
system of compulsory notification by means of which early
information of the occurrence of cases could be obtained.