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pneumonia. 13
In the whole Borough of the 154 deaths assigned to all forms of pneumonia, 69 represented fatal
terminations to notified cases, in other words, over 55 per cent, of the deaths followed attacks of the
diseases which were not known to the Department during the lives of the deceased persons. Of those
85 deaths, 18 having taken place outside the Borough, the question of notification cannot be raised with
respect to those deaths. Of the 67 deaths which took place in the Borough, 4 were registered after
inquest, so that notification was not to be expected. There remain, therefore, 63 deaths in respect of
which notification was not made, although apparently due. Of those deaths 44 occurred in the homes
of the deceased, and 19 in local institutions. It would be going too far to say that there was failure to
notify in each and all the 63 instances. Opinions may differ as to whether a given attack of pneumonia
be a primary or secondary one. Experience, however, does clearly indicate that a fairly large proportion
of those 63 deaths do represent cases which ought to have been notified. It appears to be not
unreasonable to conclude that notification of all forms of pneumonia without limitation to "primary"
is necessary if the notification of the disease is to furnish any indication of an impending epidemic
of influenza.
The following table, the age-sex-time distribution of notified cases and deaths, shows curious
variations in the proportions of deaths not preceded by notification. For the whole year it will be
seen that 50 per cent, of the deaths of males of all ages were fatal notified cases, the proportion of
such deaths of females being only 38 per cent. Similar anomalies will be found in the individual
sex-age groups. The percentages recorded in the different months cannot be satisfactorily explained,
except on the assumption that there has been forgetfulness or neglect of notification.