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B. Communicable Diseases.
(1) Compulsorily Notifiable Diseases.
The details respecting the 694 notifications of infectious disease
received by me are set out in the Local Government Board's Return
(Table IX), which also shows the number treated in hospital as well
as the number of deaths.
The number of cases of each disease notified in London since 1890
are shown in Table X, together with cases notified during the
same period in the different divisions which, with some modifications,
now form the City. These figures are exclusive of duplicate notifications.
The charts indicate the number of notifications of scarlet fever,
diphtheria, enteric fever, and erysipelas in each week. In London
as a whole the number of cases of smallpox, diphtheria, erysipelas
and puerperal fevers was above the number notified in the previous
year, while scarlet fever and typhoid fever were below.
In Westminster erysipelas cases were more numerous, but the cases
of scarlet fever, diphtheria and typhoid fever were much below the
average. A number of doubtful cases, contacts, and certain patients
returning from fever hospitals, &c., were visited during the year.
Smallpox.—During the year 72 cases of smallpox were notified iu
London, one of these being in Westminster.
A sharp outbreak of this disease occurred in the Borough of Stepney
in the early part of the year, and a few cases appeared in several
boroughs in persons who had been in contact with others suffering from
the complaint. An unvaccinated youth living in Westminster and
employed in Stepney contracted the disease, but fortunately no others
appear to have been infected by him. Those who had been in his
vicinity, so far as could be traced, were kept under observation.
Intimation was received during the year of 162 persons who had
been in contact, or came from places abroad where smallpox existed, and
these were kept under observation.