View report page

20 SCARLET FEVER.
Distributing the cases according to Wards (Table 10), it is seen that there were
increases in three Wards, viz., Maida Vale, Lancaster Gate—West and East. The greatest
decreases were in Oueen's Park and Harrow Road Wards.
In comparison with the Adjacent Districts (Table 9), the Borough rate (1.87) was the
lowest, and showed the greatest diminution (0.94) from the mean for the four years. The
highest rate was that of Willesden (2.87). The Kensington rate was the same as that of the
Borough, but the diminution from the mean rate was only 0.16.

Of the 31 instances of two cases in a house, one can be dismissed, both cases being
ultimately found to have been erroneously diagnosed; while in another case the second
patient (an infant) was taken to hospital with the mother, and developed the disease there.
Of the remaining 29 instances, 4 were due to return infection, and in 5 the second case
occurred whilst the first was under treatment at home. In 9 instances the two cases were
reported together.
The instances in which 3 and 4 cases occurred in the same house were due to circumstances
over which the Department had no control.
The inquiries made after notification indicate that 15 patients were infected beyond the
Borough, 7 being by discharged patients, and that 3 contracted the disease in hospitals.
The number of cases known to have been erroneously diagnosed was 15, and the diagnosis
was doubtful in 4 others.
The cases removed to hospital for isolation numbered 247 out of 277, equal to 89.1 per
cent., a proportion exceeded once only—viz., in 1903, when the percentage was 91.3—
since 1901. All the cases in Lancaster Gate East Ward were removed to Hospital; the
removals from Maida Vale Ward constituted the smallest proportion (67 per cent.).
The deaths recorded during the year as due to scarlet fever numbered 6, two less than
the total for 1904. The fatality during the year was at the rate of 2.1 per cent. of notified
cases. Among the 232 cases of the disease removed to hospital, 4 deaths (equal to 1.7 per
cent.) occurred. That proportion is the smallest recorded since 1901. (See Table 17.)
The mortality was at the rate of 0.04 per 1000, half the decennial mean rate, and
one-third the mean rate for the five years 1895-99. (See also below.)