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54
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The total number of cases notified to me in the 17 weeks ended
the 29th April was 284, 154 of which occurred in the Southfield Ward,
59 in the Fairfield Ward, and 71 in the Springfield Ward. Of the 154
cases in the Southfield Ward, in 101 households there was one case,
in 20 households there were two cases in each, in three households
there were three cases in each, and in one household there were four
cases. In the Fairfield Ward in 36 households there was one case in
each, in six households there were two cases in each, in one household
there were three cases, and in two households there were four cases in
each. In the Springfield Ward in 43 households there was one case
in each, in eight households there were two cases in each, and in four
households there were three cases in each.
A review of the whole circumstances attending the prevalence of
this disease shows that it was due to several causes, either school
infection, unrecognised and undiagnosed cases, or return of a previous
case from the isolation hospital. With regard to the last, the total
number of definite return cases was 16, but in the Springfield Ward in
February several cases were indirectly infected by a case which had
been returned from hospital at the parents' request while the child
was still in an infective condition. In the Southfield ward, however,
which had a population of 21,924 at the Census of 1901, and an
estimated population of 32,380 at the present time, school infection
played a considerable part, and the following Table shows the total
number of cases during each week and the school attended by the
patient:—