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74
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The total number of cases, viz.—430, although under the
number for 1912, and also the decennial average, is still above the
number of cases notified in 1909 and 1910, but there was no outbreak
of any special significance in any part of the Borough, with the
exception of a slight outbreak in an Institution in Clapham, where
12 cases occurred, with one death.
The outbreak was due to a case returned from hospital which
had been removed as a case of Scarlet Fever in 1912 and in hospital
had developed Diphtheria. Shortly after the case returned one
case of Diphtheria occurred and this case was the fatal one. The
whole of the children and attendants were at once swabbed, with
the result that 11 other cases were discovered, these being of a
mild type with few definite clinical symptoms. The premises were
thoroughly disinfected and no further cases occurred.
The next Table shows the number of cases notified since 1891,
the number of deaths, the notification rate, the death-rate, and the
case mortality for 22 years, as also the average for the 22 years,
compared with the year 1913.
It will be observed the case-rate is 5.55 lower than the
average, and that the death-rate is lower by .19 per 1,000, while
the case mortality has been reduced from 11.4 per cent. to 4.1.
This reduction in the mortality is mainly due to the use of antitoxin
as a remedy.