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in getting the parents of a child which is notified as suffering from
diphtheria to bring up the other members of the family within
a week or so after the removal or recovery of the case to the
municipal laboratory at the Town Hall for examination. If
diphtheria bacilli are found in the throats they are excluded from
school for a fortnight, and if then found to be free, are allowed to
return to school." The number of children thus examined in 1915
was 259, belonging to 129 families. Out of this number 12 had
diphtheria bacilli in their throats or noses, 2 of whom subsequently
developed the clinical symptoms of diphtheria, and were notified.
Scarlet Fever.
The notifications of scarlet fever in 1915 were 365.
Of these 264 occurred in Bermondsey, 88 in Rotherhithe,
and 13 in St. Olave. This is a decrease of 203 for the Borough
on the total for 1914. The distribution of the disease in the various
Wards, as shown in Table III. of Appendix, was fairly uniform.
24 cases were returned from hospital as not suffering from
scarlet fever.
The accompanying chart shows the prevalence of the disease
in each of the 52 weeks under report. The average notifications
for the past ten years are shown in green.
There were 9 deaths, which gives a case mortality of 2·4 per
cent., against 1·6 per cent, in 1914. The disease, as in recent years,
was of a mild type. The attack rate per thousand inhabitants
was 3·1 against 4·6 in 1914.
In 40 cases the source of infection was attributed as follows:—
Previous cases in house or family or neighbouring
houses ... ... ... ... ... ... 30
School infection ... ... ... ... ... 1
"Return" cases ... ... ... ... ... 7
Second-hand clothes ... ... ... ... ... 1
Infection carried by third person ... ... ... 1
23