View report page

11
children, the rate would be more properly estimated, not on the
total population, but on the population between the ages of 3
and 15. Now from the census returns of 1891, I have calculated
that while in London there were only 206 children
between the ages of 5 and 15 in every 1,000 of population, in
Plumstead there were 231. If correction is applied for this
different age distribution, the figure 10.9 becomes 9.6, and the
rate for 1891-97 becomes 5.7. So we see that a large part of the
excess of Scarlet Fever in Plumstead over that in London is
due to the age distribution of the population.
24. Still, even after allowance has been made for the age
distribution of the population, it is obvious that in the past
two years Plumstead has experienced an exceptional prevalence
of Scarlet Fever, which, although fortunately the number of
deaths is slight, from the amount of illness and inconvenience
caused, demands most serious attention.
26. 1 find that 499 cases, or 70 per cent. of the whole, were
between the ages 3 and 15, i.e., were of school age. The
number of males and females affected was about equal. In
more than two-thirds of the cases the disease only affected one
person in the house. 582 houses were affected, and in only 21
were there more than two cases.
27. Table VI. shews that out of about 200 streets in the
Parish, cases occurred in 156, or more than three-fourths of
them:—27 occurred in High Street, 19 in Griffin Road, 14 in
Frederick Place, Orchard Road, and Piedmont Road, 13 in
Sutcliffe Road and Parkdale Road, 12 in Kashngar Road, Llanover
Road, Tewson Road, and Ann Street, 11 in Francis Street,
Chesnut Road, Plumstead Common Road, Riverdale Road, and
Sandy Hill Road, and smaller numbers in the remaining
streets.