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ENTERIC FEVER.
Un fortunately while there is cause for a certain measure of
congratulation in so far as diphtheria and scarlet fever are concerned,
this is not the case with regard to enteric fever, the number
of cases for this year being the highest since 1915. In all 15 cases
were notified during the year, and of these in 6 cases the diagnosis
was inaccurate, so that actually 9 cases of enteric fever occurred
in the borough during the year. The first of these cases was
notified in March, and in spite of careful investigation the source
of infection was not traced ; this patient recovered. The remaining
14 cases were notified between 27th August, 1936 and Ist
September, 1936, and a summary of the information relating to
these cases is appended, from which it will appear that the source
of infection was certainly not within the borough, and that these
cases may have derived from the larger epidemic mentioned in the
summary. There were some peculiarly sad features associated
with this epidemic, small though it was, and I regret to have to
record that three of the patients died. There was one other
death from enteric fever allocated to the borough this year, that
of a patient in Cane Hill Mental Hospital who had formerly lived
in Bermondsey. This case was not notified since the diagnosis
was only made post mortem.
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