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27
MEASLES.
I he proportions of children to total population vary within wide limits in the Wards, as also do
the proportions of children attending such schools to the total child populations. Hence, in
certain Wards (e.g., Maida Vale and the three Southern Wards) the cases known to the Department
are probably only fractions of the true totals. To some extent that defect is,remedied by the
increasing practice of applying to the Department for disinfection after occurrence of the
disease. A fair number of cases are also reported by the parents or householders as soon as
they occur. Even when all due allowance is made for any understatement which is likely to
have prevailed, the figures in Table 17 suggest (at least) that the distribution of the disease in
the Borough was very irregular, while the recorded fatalities are strikingly so. Attention may
be specially directed to the very low fatality in Harrow Road Ward (0.2, 1911; 2.6, 1906-10)
and to higher fatalities recorded in Westbourne (7.1, 1911; 41, 1906-10) and Church (9.4, 1911;
6'3, 1906-10). In those Wards it is probable that very nearly all the cases are known during life,
but the case is different in Lancaster Gate (West) Ward, where, it is thought, many cases do
not get reported. In that Ward last year's fatality (7.1) was more than five times the average
(14) for the years 1906-10. In Table 18 an attempt has been made to test the association (if
any) between fatality of the disease and the character of the people among whom such fatality
prevails. With the exceptions of Kensington Gardens Square and Queen's Road, all the streets
included in the table are inhabited by the working classes, some of them by persons of the
poorest classes. The information contained in Table 18 is set out in a more comprehensive form
helow.
Queen's Harrow Maida Lancaster Gate, Hyde
Park. Road. Vale. Westbourne. Church. West. East. Park.
T . e In streets
In rest of , , .
a where deaths
Ward.
occurred.
cases 21 35 43 64 190 14 — 2
Houses invaded 10 18 22 29 99 9 — 1
Deaths 2 1 5 11 27 3 — 1
Attacks per house 2.1 1.9 l.9 2.2 l.9 1.5 — 2
Fatality per cent 9.5 2.8 11.6 17.1 14.2 21.4 — 50
Cases in other parts of
Ward 131 356 130 90 96 28 27 54
Houses invaded 79 196 74 49 57 18 19 41
Attacks per house 1.6 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3
Without wishing to draw any definite conclusion—the material is insufficient for the purpose
—the above figures may be said to suggest an association between multiplicity of attacks in a
house and fatality. The highest fatality (17.1 per cent.) is associated with the highest average
of attacks per house (2.2), and the lowest fatality (zero) with the lowest but one (14—differing
only by 0'1 from the lowest) house average incidence.
The Wards showing the highest fatalities (Westbourne, 17.1, and Church, 14.2), include two
"areas" of special characteristics, being densely inhabited with a poor class population. In
Westbourne Ward there is the " Waverley Road Area," and in Church Ward the " Clarendon
Street Area." In the former area occurred all the deaths recorded in the Ward, the house
average of cases in the area being 2.2 and the fatality 17.1 per cent. In the Clarendon Street
Area the house incidence was 1.9 and the fatality 121 per cent.— figures which lend support to
the suggestion made above.
On the other hand, in the three streets Ashmore, Bravington, and Portnall Roads (Harrow
Road Ward) there were 121 cases in 67 houses (average 1.8) without a known fatal case.
The total of 50 deaths entered during the year as due to measles was one-third less than the
total for 1910, but 10 in excess of the average annual number (40) during the five years 1906-10.
The mortality last year was at the rate of 0.35 per 1,000 persons, 0.17 less than the rate for 1910,
and 0.08 above the average (0.27) for 1906-10. The numbers of deaths and corresponding rates
for the six past years are given below.
1906. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911.
Deaths 16 37 36 36 75 50
Mortality 0.11 0.25 0.24 0.25 0.52 0.35