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43
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
I also communicated with the Medical Officer of Health for
Bognor, who informed me that no cases of Scarlet Fever had been
notified to him for some considerable time in that place. It is to be
presumed then that M. C. (the first case) was infected in the railway
train while travelling from Bognor to London.
In all, 18 cases were notified, and of these, four were found, on
examination at the hospital, not to be suffering from the disease,
making a total of 14 actual cases. There is no doubt that all the
secondary cases (14 in number) were due to infection by the unrecognised
case notified on the 2nd October.
The death-rate per 1,000 living was .05, compared with .07 in
1903, and .09 in 1902, while the rate for the whole of London was .08,
compared with .07 in 1903, and .12 in 1902.
The chart shows that during the first eight months of the year
there was not much prevalence of the disease, but there was a considerable
increase in the months of April, October, November and
December. Of the total number of cases notified, viz., 774, 311 were
notified during these months, and this increase was specially noticeable
in the sub-districts of Wandsworth, Streatham, and Tooting.
Only on one occasion, viz., the week ending the 17th December,
did the weekly number of notifications exceed 30, while on 17 occasions
they were 10 or under. In the second week of August the number of
notifications received was five, and in the last week of January only
four. The average number of notifications received each week was
about 15, compared with 16 in 1903, and 20 in 1902.
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup.
It is satisfactory to be able to report that in 1904 there has been
again, as in 1903, a diminution in the number of cases of Diphtheria
notified.
The following Table shows the number of cases notified and the
number of deaths that occurred in the separate sub-districts and in
the whole Borough for the years 1894 to 1903 inclusive, also the
average for these ten years, and the number of cases notified in 1904:—