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51
In the following tables are shown the age distribution of notified cases of scarlet-fever and
diphtheria in each month during the period 1892-8. In the table relating to scarlet-fever it will
be seen that the proportion of children under five years of age is greatest at the early part of the
year, and that the proportion falls to a minimum in September, subsequently rising to the end of
the year. There is arrest of this fall in the month of August due to the fact that children of school
age are not then contracting disease in school, and children under five, therefore, constitute a
larger proportion of the total cases.
The table relating to diphtheria shows that the largest proportion of cases aged 0—5 years
occurs in the months of March and April, the proportion gradually approaching a minimum in
September. As in the case of scarlet-fever, it will be seen that the proportion of cases aged 0—5
years is unduly high in August, a fact doubtless attributable to the closure of the schools in that
month—