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8
sickness.
SICKNESS: MORBIDITY.
During the past few years there have been many additions (temporary and permanent) to
the list of diseases to be "notified." In this section of the report only those diseases* which have
been on the list from the commencement of notification (in 1889) will be dealt with, the
remainder being reserved for consideration under individual headings.
Table 5 gives the numbers of cases of the diseases notified last year in comparison with the
numbers for the preceding five years. It is to be understood that no cases of the diseases
included in the original schedule, but not mentioned in that table, were reported during the
past year.
In comparison with 1910, the only disease showing any noteworthy increase last year was
diphtheria, of which there were 47 more cases (52, if membranous croup be included). The 168
cases of diphtheria and membranous croup were 16 in excess of the average (156) for the five
years 1906-10. The cases of erysipelas (117) were 2 in excess of the same average (115), and
the 39 cases of enteric and continued fevers, 4 in excess. The 2.26 cases of scarlet fever were
346 below the average (572), and the 7 of puerperal fever equal to the average.
The only morbidity rates which have been calculated are those required for comparison
with the notification numbers for the circumjacent districts, and are to be found in Table 6.
Smallpox can be disregarded, as the disease was practically non-existent in the districts
mentioned in the table. As regards diphtheria, lower rates than that recorded in the Borough
(1.18) were observed last year in Westminster (0.90) and St. Marylebone (1.14). Last year's
rates were below the average in the former district and in Willesden, last year's rate in
Hampstead (1.76) being just a little more than double the mean (0.87). Lower rates from
scarlet fever than that noted in the Borough last year (1.59) were recorded in Kensington (1.34),
Westminster (1.58), and Hampstead (1.50), all of last year's rates being below the respective
averages. The local rate from entcric fever (0.25) was the highest of the scries, and the only
case where the average (0.24) was exceeded. The rates due to puerperal fever, being calculated
on the total populations, are not of much value. Last year's rates were notably in excess of the
averages in Hampstead (rate, 1911,0.07; average, 0.03) and Willesden (rate, 1911,0.10; average,
0.06). It should be remembered that the foregoing rates are based on reported cases (corrected
for duplicate certificates), and that in all probability considerable differences would be observed
were it possible to make adjustments for errors of diagnosis.

*The original list of diseases was smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, membranous croup, erysipelas, and the
fevers known as scarlet, enteric (otherwise typhoid), typhus, relapsing, continued, and puerperal. The diseases
which have been added from time to time are chickenpox, cerebro-spinal meningitis (including posterior basic
meningitis), anthrax, glanders, hydrophobia, poliomyelitis anterior, and ophthalmia neonatorum, all except the first
being now permanently on the list.