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54
SMALL-POX.
No case of this disease was notified during the year.
No death from Small-pox has occurred in the borough in the last
ten years.
SCARLET FEVER.
The increased prevalence of Scarlet Fever in the Borough, commencing
in the middle of August, 1913, continued throughout the whole
of the year, 1914. It will be seen by the accompanying table that
Scarlet Fever was more prevalent in our district during the year under
consideration than in any year since 1906.
In 1906, 1,470 cases were notified of which 45 were fatal, whilst in
the year 1914, 1,448 were notified with 22 deaths. This shews that the
disease during the year under consideration must have been of a milder
type than that in the year 1906, as the treatment of the cases in the
two years was of the same character.
In the five years preceding 1914, Scarlet Fever had considerably
declined both in the number of cases notified and in its fatality, so that
at the commencement of the outbreak in the autumn of 1913, we must
have had in the district a large number of susceptible children. The
disease being of a mild type large numbers were unrecognised until the
"peeling" stage, when the cases had spread the disease far and wide.
In one case a boy, attendant at a picture palace, had been during the
course of his complaint going on with his duties. This case was the
centre of a large outbreak before it was discovered. In a densely
populated district such as Southwark, it is very difficult to discover very
mild cases, especially in those who go to work. The verminous state of
houses in my opinion is the cause of the spread of this and similar
diseases. The usual vermin, it is thought, carry the infection from
person to person. Municipal cleansing of the home and person in the
poorer districts appears to be the most economical treatment in the prevention
of these diseases.