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38
Scarlet Fever.—In London the year 1905 had some 6,000 more cases
than .1904, and it was to be expected that the prolonged dryness of 1906
would be accompanied by a further increase in scarlet fever, diphtheria,,
erysipelas, and diarrhoea. The figures for both London and Westminster,.
^ unfortunately, agree with the expectation. So far as scarlet fever is
concerned, the number of cases (540) notified in Westminster was
higher than any year since 1897 (1899 being the nearest with 534)..
From the tables below it will be seen that it was chiefly in St. John's
and Victoria Wards that the majority of the cases occurred. In 1905
the northern part of the City was attacked, but towards the end of
that year Victoria Ward became affected, and then in 1906 it spread to
St. John's, being apparently associated with the group of schools on
both sides of Vauxhall Bridge Road, at its lower end. Fortunately, so
far as fatality was concerned, the type of the disease was of a mild
character, but this mildness also contributed to the spread of the disease,
as many cases were not recognised until others had been infected from
them ; thus 1 find there were four cases in one house in eleven instances,
three cases in seventeen instances, and two cases in forty-three instancesThe
symptoms in such cases were often so slight and evanescent that
no doctor was called in, or they were of an anomalous character that
medical men had difficulty in deciding if it was an infectious complaint.