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17
THE INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
For administrative purposes the infectious diseases are divided into two classes, those which
the householder is obliged by law to notify to the Medical Officer of Health, and those which are
not compulsorily notifiable. In Kensington the following diseases are compulsorily notifiable :—
Small Pox. Typhus Fever.
Plague. Relapsing Fever.
Cholera. Puerperal Fever.
Diphtheria. Cerebro-spinal Fever.
Erysipelas. Glanders.
Scarlet Fever. Anthrax.
Typhoid or Enteric Fever. Hydrophobia.
Acute Poliomyelitis. Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
Glanders, Anthrax and Hydrophobia in man were made notifiable on April 26th, 1909, with
a view to affording further facilities for dealing at the earliest possible opportunity with the animal
sources from which human beings almost invariably acquire the infection of these diseases.
Cerebro-spinal fever was again made notifiable for a further period of 12 months from March 13th,
1911. No case of glanders, anthrax or hydrophobia was notified in Kensington. By order of the
London County Council, the diseases known as ophthalmia neonatorum and acute poliomyelitis
or acute polio encephalitis were made compulsorily notifiable on March 13th, 1911.
SMALL POX.
No case of small pox occurred in Kensington during the year ; 73 cases in all were notified in
the Metropolis, and of this number 61 occurred in the two months February and March. The
outbreak originated in the Mile End Infirmary and with this Institution a large number of the 40
cases which occurred in the Borough of Stepney were directly or indirectly connected. The cases
occurring in Stepney, Bethnal Green, Poplar and Hackney, together accounted for 60 out of the
total number notified. As a precautionary measure chicken pox, the disease most frequently
confused with small pox, was made compulsorily notifiable from March 22nd to June 22nd, 1911,
throughout London. Administrative action in Kensington was limited to visiting the notified
cases of chicken pox which numbered 227, and persons reported as having been in contact with
small pox infection in other Boroughs.
DIPHTHERIA.
During the year 212 cases of diphtheria were notified and of these 20 proved fatal, the seasonal
incidence of the disease is indicated in the following table:—