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267* (i.e., 84.2 per cent.) were removed to Hospital, and 46 died,
giving a case.mortality of 17.2 per cent, amongst the patients
treated in Hospital; whilst 50 (i.e., 15.8 per cent.) were treated
at home, and 1 died, giving a case.mortality of 2 per cent,
amongst the patients treated at home. The difference in the
mortality rate as between Hospital. and Home.treated cases
is explainable by the severity of the cases removed to Hospital.
The case.mortality rate for the whole of the Borough of
Lambeth during 1907 is low, pointing to (1) the mildness of the
majority of cases notified, and (2) the great value of antitoxin
in the treatment of Diphtheria, especially in the very early
stages of the disease.†
The sudden decrease in the number of Diphtheria deaths
throughout the new Borough of Lambeth during 1907 is again remarkable,
as it was during 1906,1905,1904,1903,1902 and 1901,
and will be seen, on comparison with the yearly mortality average
of the 10 years (1891.1900) for the old Parish of Lambeth. This
yearly average is 124, so that during 1907 there has been a
decrease in the mortality.rate, in comparison, of 62.2 per cent.
So, too, if the number of notifications of Diphtheria received
during 1907 in the Borough of Lambeth be compared with the
yearly average of the 10 years (1891.1900) for the old Parish of
Lambeth, i.e., since the Notification Clauses of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, came into force, a similar decrease will be
noticed, viz., a decrease of 55.7 per cent.—the yearly average of
notifications for the old Parish being 715, and the number
received during 1907 for the Borough 317. Fortunately the
comparison can be extended further, and made for many years
past, as the statistics for Diphtheria have been worked out in
*Of the 267 cases of Diphtheria removed to Hospital, 19 proved at
Hospital not to be suffering from that disease.
t40 bottles of antitoxin have been gratuitously distributed in Lambeth
Borough during 1907 as compared with 59 during 1906.