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Scarlet Fever.
The notifications of scarlet fever in 1916 were 252 against 365
in 1915.
This is a decrease of 113, which is very satisfactory. The
distribution of the disease in the various Wards, as shown in
Table III. of Appendix, was fairly uniform.
23 cases were returned from hospital as not suffering from
scarlet fever.
There were 5 deaths, which gives the very low case mortality
of 1.9 per cent., against 2.4 per cent. in 1915. The disease, as
in recent years, was of a very mild type. The atack rate per
thousand inhabitants was 2.2 against 3.1 in 1915.
The sources of infection were mostly previous cases. There
was no outbreak traceable to any common cause such as infected
milk or school contagion.
Measles.
The number of deaths for 1916 was 42, against 110 in 1915,
79 in 1914 and 88 in 1913.
Measles was made a notifiable disease in 1916, a distinction
being drawn between Measles and German Measles. The notification
consisted in first cases being notified by medical men—
subsequent cases by the parents or guardians of the children
attacked. This was not undertaken with the idea of action being
taken similar to that in other infectious diseases, viz., removal,
disinfection, etc., but with the idea of the house being visited by
a Health Visitor or Sanitary Inspector, so that parents might be
warned of the serious nature of the disease, and that in the case
of the attack being a severe one, with complications, nursing
assistance might be provided. By these means it was hoped that
the mortality of the disease might be favourably affected, even
if the prevalence continued as before.
As no provision for nursing was made till 1916, one is not in
a position to judge of the efficacy of the measure till a considerable
period has elapsed.
There was a considerable prevalence of measles in the Metropolis
which was shared in by Bermondsey. The number of