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34 Report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1938.
The decrease in the number of cases has been associated with
a general decrease in the incidence of this disease throughout
London.
Two of the cases died, compared with five last year and none
in the previous year. The death-rate was .005 per 1,000 compared
with .014 in 1937 and nil. The case mortality was .34.
The case-rate per 1,000 of population was 1.71:—1.44 in
Clapham; 1.19 in Putney; 1.46 in Balham; 1.53 in Streatham;
2.36 in Tooting ; and 2.08 in Wandsworth.
Of the total number of cases, 511 or 87 per cent. were removed
to hospital.
The Medical Officers of the London County Council made
inspections of two schools during the year, and any suspected
cases were at once excluded and the names and addresses forwarded
to me for inquiry.
Return Cases of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria.
13 cases of Scarlet Fever and four of Diphtheria occurred
within one month of the return of a previous case from hospital.
The Notification of Measles and Whooping Cough.
These two diseases were made notifiable throughout London
by The County of London (Measles and Whooping Cough) Regulations,
1938, which came into operation on the 1st, October 1938.
Notification is limited to the first case occurring in the household
when more than one case occurs within a period of two months,
and cases under treatment in a hospital for infectious disease are
not notifiable.
The following cases have been notified from 1st October,
1938, to the end of the year:—Mealses, eight; Whooping Cough,
143.
Measles.
The number of cases brought to my notice during the year
October 1st, 1937, to September 30th 1938, was 3,741.
13 cases died during the calendar year; the death-rate per
1,000 of the population was .03.
726 cases of German Measles were also reported.