View report page

43
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
was general all over the Borough, and corresponded with an
increase in the whole of South London.
The total number of deaths, viz., 42, is one above last year,
and 43.5 below the corrected decennial average.
The death-rate was .17 per 1,000, slightly under the rate for
last year, but .15 under the rate for 1899; while the rate for the
County of London was .29 per 1,000, compared with .335 in 1900.
The number of cases notified per 1,000 population was 1.9,
compared with 2.12 in 1900, while for the County of London
this rate was 2.6, compared with 2.6 in 1900.
In the several sub-districts the proportion of cases per 1,000
of population was as follows:—Clapham 2.1, Putney .82, Streatham
1.8, Tooting 2.8, and Wandsworth 2.3.
The death-rate in the sub-districts was, Clapham .17,
Putney .16, Streatham .05, Tooting .17, and Wandsworth .32.
Return cases of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria.
19 cases of Scarlet Fever and five of Diphtheria occurred after
the return of a case from one of the Metropolitan Asylums Board's
Hospitals. In many of these cases of Scarlet Fever the patients
had been in hospital for a considerable time and had suffered from
some complication, as discharge from ear or nose. Every care
is taken by the staff at the hospitals to see that children are free
from infection, and it is impossible to prevent these cases
altogether.
The Metropolitan Asylums Board have appointed a Medical
Investigator to inquire into these return cases, and a report will
in all probability be made dealing with their causes and prevention.
With regard to return cases of Diphtheria there were two
small outbreaks traceable to these, one in Tooting, and one in
Streatham,