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40
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
year, a slight fall therefore, The comparatively mild
character of the type of fever we have had is shown by
the fact that there have been only six deaths from it,
exactly the same as in last year. The relationship of
deaths to cases has shown the same low proportion
during the last six years.
The number notified in each month was as follows:—
January 30. July 18.
February 19. August 15.
March 19. September 14.
April 12. October 22.
May 7. November 16.
June 9. December 18.
The largest number was in January, the remains of
the autumn epidemic in 1896, and the next largest was
in October.
The fact that year after year there occurs this somewhat
considerable number of cases of Scarlet Fever, in spite of
the precautions taken to prevent it, is a matter of some
disappointment; but it must be remembered that the very
mildness of the disease makes prevention more difficult,
because there will always be a certain number of cases
unrecognised by those in charge of them, who do not
therefore seek medical advice. There are, also, a certain
number wilfully concealed in order to avoid the restrictions
involved. These it is very difficult to deal with, as it is
generally almost impossible to prove that there was
knowledge of the nature of the illness. An amendment
of the law, throwing on those in charge of children
suffering from infectious disease the onus of proving that
they did not know what was the matter, would be very
valuable.
The number removed to hospital was 142, or 71.3
per cent, of the total cases, a larger proportion than in any