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35
whether the diagnoses as notified were confirmed in
the hospital to which the patients were admitted. As a
result we find that 66 notifications of diphtheria, or
23.9 per cent., and 54 notifications of scarlet fever, or
13.5 per cent., were not confirmed in hospital. The
corresponding figures for the year 1924 were for diphtheria
24.3 per cent, and for scarlet fever 8.0 per cent.
Smallpox.—Although smallpox still continues to
be prevalent in the North of England and the Midlands,
it is extremely satisfactory that during the year under
review we had no case in Fulham. The present
immunity from smallpox in London and the South of
England as compared with the North of England and
the Midlands is a peculiar feature of this disease and one
which cannot entirely be accounted for. Personally,
I see no reason why this present outbreak in the
North of England and the Midlands should not make a
serious effort to gain a foothold in London. The state
of vaccination in London is not such as to justify us
in having great hopes that this valuable preventative
will help us very much. Until the Public realise what
a serious mistake they are committing in not availing
themselves fully of the enormous benefit of vaccination,
we must rely upon the efforts of the Public Health
Services to deal as rapidly and efficiently as possible with
each case as and when it arises.
Measles.—589 cases of measles were notified during
the year 1925. This was the commencement of a
serious epidemic of this disease which, as I write
(February, 1926), is just reaching its peak with notifications
at the rate of over 500 a week. This epidemic
commenced to make itself felt in the first week in
November with 24 notifications, and during the remainder
of November and December notifications
averaged between 40 and 50 per week. Fortunately,
only two deaths occurred owing to this disease.
In my annual report for 1922 I gave in some detail
the steps which are taken in Fulham to deal with this
disease and as this is a survey report it may be as well
to repeat them.