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The total weight of the bedding, clothing, etc., of Kensington residents disinfected was
53 tons 10 cwts. The number of articles disinfected only was 18,926 and the number disinfected and
washed, 925.
The laundry work for the medicinal baths is performed at the disinfecting station and this
work involved in 1934 the washing of 10,745 towels, 247 sheets and 76 other articles.
The Paddington authority have entered into an agreement with the council for the disinfection
of all articles removed from Paddington homes to be performed at the Kensington disinfecting
station. As the Paddington council require certain of the articles to be washed after disinfection,
the charge was fixed at 20s. per cwt. of articles dealt with, but there is a proviso in the agreement
that the minimum pavment per annum is to be £600.
The weight of Paddington articles disinfected in 1934 was 21 tons 7 cwt. 1 qr. 2 lb.
The number of articles disinfected only was 7,322 and the number disinfected and washed was
2,059.
Disinfection of Library Books.
In view of the difficulty of securing efficient disinfection of books, the libraries committee
authorise the medical officer of health to destroy all public library volumes removed from
infected houses ; this gives Kensington borrowers protection from infection from the council's
books.
The number of books from the Kensington public libraries destroyed during the year by the
officers of the public health department was 125. The number of private subscribing library books
destroyed was 34, and the number disinfected by formalin and returned to the householders was 22.
Disinfection at a Local Public Institution.
During a temporary breakdown of the disinfecting plant at St. Mary Abbots Hospital the
council were able to assist the hospital authorities. From the 19th March to the 26th April the
council collected from the hospital, disinfected and returned 332 mattresses, 354 pillows and
389 blankets, a total of 1.075 articles weighing 9 tons 19 cwt.
Diphtheria Immunisation.
Diphtheria, with its persistently high incidence and mortality, has for too long constituted a
grave menace, particularly to the child population.
It is essentially a disease of children under the age of fifteen years. About 60,000 cases are
notified annually in England and Wales, and the average number of deaths each year is
approximately 3,000. It has been estimated that 10 per cent, of the children born each year will
suffer from diphtheria before they reach the age of fifteen years. It kills an average of 80 to
90 children out of every 1,000 attacked.

Of the 360 cases which occurred in 1934, 359 were admitted to fever hospitals. It has been
estimated that the cost to London ratepayers of the nursing and isolation of each case averages £25,
and thus the total cost of the 359 cases in 1934 was approximately£9,000.
The heavy toll of sickness and death, even when the disease is not in epidemic form, stands
out in contrast to that of everv other infectious disease except measles.
Diphtheria is not a disease of modern times ; it was first described in 1748, and in 1894 it was
discovered to be due to a germ. This germ grows in the throat of the infected person and produces
a poison, the diphtheria toxin, which is absorbed into the system and causes the damage.
The treatment of individual sunerers from diphtheria has been very considerably improved
in recent years, with the result that the death rate amongst those attacked has been reduced from
over 30 per cent, to under 10 per cent. ; but, notwithstanding this progress, the disease itself has
proved an increasingly difficult problem. Indeed, the ordinary public health measures for preventing
the spread of infection (notification, isolation, the swabbing of contacts, and disinfection) have
proved to be far from successful. In 1923 over 40,000 cases were notified in England and Wales;
in 1930, there were over 72,000. Measures for the prevention of diphtheria call, therefore, for close
and earnest attention.
It can be stated definitely that, if the public will co-operate with the medical profession in
securing immunisation against diphtheria, not only can sickness and deaths be reduced enormously,
but there can also be a great saving of the ratepayers' money now being spent on fever hospital
nursing and isolation. Furthermore, school life and education would not be interfered with so