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80
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
In view of the increase in the number of return cases it would
not be justifiable to give a definite opinion, at least until our
knowledge of the subject is more thorough. Personally I still
hold that all cases should be kept isolated till desquamation is
quite completed.
Enteric Fever.
139 cases of Enteric Fever were notified during the year
compared with 96 in 1901, and 153 in 1900. 85 of the cases were
removed to hospital where 18 died, and 54 were treated at home
with 12 deaths. The total number of deaths was 30, compared
with 15 in 1901 ,and 26 in 1900.
The proportion of cases notified per 1,000 of population was
.57, compared with .40 in 1901, and .74 for the County of London.
The case mortality was 21.5 per cent. for the Borough, and
15.7 per cent. for the whole of London.
The case mortality is much higher this year than it was in
1901, when it was 15.6 per cent., showing that in the Borough the
disease was of a more virulent type.
The corrected death-rate from fever was .12 per 1,000, compared
with .06 in 1901, and .12 in 1900.
The number of cases notified in each sub-district, as also the
number of deaths is given in the Tables.
The death-rate for the different parishes were as follows:—
Clapham .20, Putney .08, Streatham .13, Tooting .16, and
Wandsworth .05.
The number of deaths in the Borough is the greatest during
the last ten years, and special inquiry has been made into the
causation of the disease.
Of the total 139 cases notified, in 95 the cause of the disease
could not be ascertained, in 11 it was contracted outside the
Borough, in eight it was caused by infection from previous cases,
in three it was presumably caused by the eating of watercress, and
in 22 the patients had partaken of shellfish two or three weeks
before the first symptoms appeared.