View report page

35
SCARLET FEVER.
The deaths from Scarlet Fever were lb in the Borough during 1903,
as against 42 for the year 1902.
The total number of cases notified was 512 this year, as against 1,098
for last year.
The percentage of deaths to the total cases notified was 35.
The annual mortality per 1,000 living was .09.
Deaths from Scarlet Fever during the last ten years:—
1894 42 1899 21
1895 36 1900 22
1896 51 1901 54
1897 54 1902 42
1898 45 1903 18
Of the 512 cases notified as many 493 were removed to hospital'
The deaths in the hospital were 18, a mortality of 3-6 per cent.
The cases treated at home numbered 19, of which none died.
DISCHARGE OF PATIENTS FROM HOSPITAL.
Year by year mention has been made in my annual report of the
great length of time patients were retained in hospital, until really they
became, when discharged, a source of extreme clanger to children with
whom they were afterwards in contact. This was most noticeable in
cases of Scarlet Fever. I am pleased to say that during the past year the
length of stay in hospital of these patients has been much curtailed to the
advantage of every one concerned.
The practice of the hospital authorities of informing the Medical
Officer of Health of patients about to be discharged, and of sending a
short history of those who have suffered from nasal or aural trouble,
which practice has been in vogue now for more than a year, has been
attended by the very best results. In no single case in Southwark has
there been on the part of the parents a suspicion of a complaint that the
patient was released too soon from the hospital. It is also pleasant to
see that the Medical Officer of the hospital has been courageous enough
to at once discharge patients he believed, shortly after admission, not to
be suffering from any notifiable disease. Old prejudices cannot be broken
down in a day, and we have many practitioners still amongst us who
consider a Scarlet Fever case which has been discharged home, and
which was seen to have a little roughening of the skin, to be in an
infectious state. When such cases occur, and when the Medical Officer