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66
1908

SCARLET FEVER.
Although the return from Scarlet Fever is 18 below the corrected annual
average for the past '20 years, yet it is not as good as some of the past records,
for whereas 30 deaths were registered during 1908, yet in 1886 and in 1898
only 28 deaths occurred, and in 1900, 1903 and 1907 only 24 deaths were
recorded. Nevertheless the 30 deaths registered in the past year must be
considered a satisfactory return.
Of late years there has been a remarkable decrease in the deaths from
Scarlet Fever; indeed in former times they were three or four times more
numerous than the average of the last few years. Thus from 1851-1860 they
averaged 119 per annum; from 1861-1870 227; from 1871-1880 142; from
1881-1890 69; and from 1891-1900 53. It is, therefore, seen that there has
been a steady fall in the number of deaths since the decade 1871-1880. Three
factors have contributed to this remarkable improvement. First, without doubt,
it is due to better sanitation; secondly, to the large number of patients now
isolated in hospitals, whereby the disease has been prevented from spreading;
and thirdly the disease has assumed a less fatal form than that which
characterized it between 1851 and 1870.