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67
SCARLET FEYER.
The deaths from Scarlet Fever in the borough were 6 during the year
1911, as against 9, 14, 24, 35 and 45 in the preceding five years.
This small number of deaths creates a record. It is not easy to
point to any one particular thing that could account for the lessened
incidence of the disease during the past few years and the smaller case
fatality. In regard to ward distribution the disease has been pretty
uniform. There has been nothing in the way of an outbreak in any part
of the borough. Of the causes of this diminution the better examination
of school children and the exclusion of suspicious cases must have had a
great influence upon the spread of the complaint. The cleansing of
verminous rooms, the number of which has been so great during the
past year, must also have had some effect. The stripping off of
wall paper in the process of disinfection has also tended to increased
cleanliness. In the future the direction in which the sanitary force at
the disposal of the Local Authority should be applied more particularly
is in the cleansing of verminous rooms, which unfortunately in
poor districts are very numerous, in the ventilation and cleansing of
dirty rooms, and in recommending more cleanly habits in regard to the
person and clothing of the people. At the present time no one can
justly complain of the houses of this borough being structurally
insanitary. There must be, of course, instances of such houses in so
densely populated a borough as Southwark, but the number is relatively
small. Further in respect to verminous rooms, it is not always the fault
of the landlord. A few well chosen cases taken against tenants would
act like a charm where the landlord had done his best at much expense,
and where the tenant through inattention had allowed the vermin again
to accumulate. It is only reasonable to suppose that a certain amount of
disease is spread by blood sucking vermin, such as bugs and fleas, and
indirectly by lice.
The total number of cases of Scarlet Fever notified was 480, as
against 419 for 1910.
The percentage of deaths to the total cases notified was 1-2.
The annual mortality per 1,000 living was 0.03.
The number of cases notified, as compared with London, during the
last ten years was:—