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PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OVER INFECTIOUS
DISEASES.
The following notifiable infectious diseases are compulsorily
notifiable in Camberwell: —
Small-pox, Diphtheria, Membranous Croup, Scarlatina
or Scarlet Fever, Typhoid or Enteric Fever, Typhus Fever,
Plague Relapsing Fever, Continued Fever, Puerperal Fever,
Cerebro-Spinal Fever, Cholera, Erysipelas, Anthrax, Acute
Polioencephalitis, Anterior Poliomyelitis, Ophthalmia Neonatorum,
Glanders, Hydrophobia, Tuberculosis, Acute Primary
and Influenzal Pneumonia, Encephalitis Lethargica, Malaria,
Dysentery, Trench Fever.
The outstanding features in the history of infectious disease
in Camberwell since 1921 have been the prevalence of scarlet fever
and diphtheria and the serious increase in the diseases of the
central nervous system—poliomyelitis, polio-encephalitis and
encephalitis lethargica.
Scarlet fever may now be taken as a disease which is unlikely
to end fatally. Within 30 years the case mortality has fallen
considerably. Its interference with education and its cost in
money and labour still make it desirable for efforts to be made
to render the population immune to this disease.
During the last five years diphtheria has been very prevalent
in Camberwell. In 1919 there were 453 notifications of this
disease, and in the following year this number was almost
doubled. In 1921 there was a small decrease in the number of
notifications, and during the following three years the figures have
been more or less stationary, but in 1925 there was a marked
increase. Nevertheless, one cannot be satisfied with the position
in relation to diphtheria as it stands to-day. Diphtheria is still
the most destructive of the infectious diseases. The introduction
of anti-toxin treatment in 1894 resulted in a large reduction in
case mortality, but the death rate of patients still remains high.
The probable explanation of the increased number of notifications
received last year was due to the facilities offered for the
bacteriological examination of swabs, resulting in a number of
cases being notified although the clinical signs of the disease
were not present.
Small Pox.
Although there has been a relatively high prevalence of this
disease in the Midlands and the North of England of recent
years, Camberwell has been extremely fortunate in having only
one case, which occurred in 1923.
The patient in question was employed at an hotel in London,
and contracted the disease whilst looking after a case of undiagnosed