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SCARLET FEVER.
The number of cases of scarlet fever notified during the year
was 167, by a coincidence exactly the same as the number of cases
of diphtheria. This is the lowest number ever recorded in the
borough, and is less by nearly 100 cases than the corresponding
figure for last year. Twenty-four cases were returned as " not
suffering " from Scarlet Fever, so that the total number of genuine
cases of scarlet fever during the year was 143, a remarkable
record when the size and type of the borough is taken into consideration.
I am happy to be able to report that there were no
deaths from this disease.
ENTERIC FEVER.
Five cases of enteric fever were notified in this borough during
the year. Subsequent investigation in hospital showed that the
diagnosis was inaccurate in three of these cases, so that actually
there were only two genuine cases of this disease. These two
cases occurred in the same family, the first one occurring at the
end of June. In spite of the most painstaking investigation
on the part of the Inspector, the source of the infection could not
be traced, though there was no question at all about the accuracy
of the diagnosis. This patient was in hospital for eleven weeks,
and was only discharged after four successive bacteriological
examinations had each given negative results. Twenty-five days
after the patient had returned home a second member of the
family was taken ill and was later removed to hospital and notified
as suffering from enteric fever. There seems to me no doubt that
the second patient was infected from the first one, although care