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63
Measles proved fatal only in 3 cases, as compared with
33 in the previous year; but Whooping-cough caused 25
deaths as compared with 15 in the previous year.
No death occurred from Scarlet Fever, and none in
outlying institutions, though 18 cases were admitted into
the Asylums Board Hospitals from Clapham. The persistent
decline of Scarlet Fever in the Metropolis, which
has continued for more than ten years, has been made
the subject of remark by the Registrar General in his
Annual Summary; and he suggests as a possible explanation
the increasing use of hospitals for cases of this
disease, involving as this does, improved isolation.
During the year 1878 the proportion of the total deaths
from Scarlet Fever which occurred in the Metropolitan
Asylums Hospitals was 5 per cent.; in the three years
1879-81 from 7 to 8 per cent.; in 1882 it rose to 9.3, in
1883 to 11.4, in 1884 to 16.4, and finally in 1885 to 19.2
per cent. These figures indicate a steadily increasing
use of the Asylums Board Hospitals by those suffering
from Scarlet Fever; while at the same time there
is a steady decrease of deaths from Scarlet Fever in
London.
Diphtheria was the cause of 4 deaths in the sub-district,
and 2 in outlying institutions; Enteric Fever of 8 in the
sub-district, and 2 in outlying institutions. As these
diseases appear to be more intimately connected with
sanitary defects than others, a special investigation was
made in each of the above cases. The result is shewn
below.