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13
Nine deaths occurred at the Industrial Schools of the
Holborn Union, also in Mitcham, 6 of which were due to
measles. The average number daily resident was 480.
V.—INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
The Infectious Disease (Notification) Act has been in force
in the District since the early part of 1890; in July, 1890,
measles was added to the list of notifiable diseases, and in 1894
diarrhœa was also made notifiable for a few weeks.
Tables C and D in the Appendix show the number of
infectious cases notified in the District since the adoption of the
Notification Act, and the cases notified in each parish during
1896. From these tables it will be seen that, with the exception
of measles, the District was again uncommonly free from
infectious disease.
Excluding measles, 160 cases of infectious illness were
notified to the Medical Officer of Health, of which 33 were
cases of erysipelas; and this number is the lowest recorded in
any year since the adoption of notification, except in the
previous year, when the number was 115.
Measles, however, was epidemic in a considerable portion
of the District, and 850 cases were notified by medical men,
and 102 by householders, besides which 131 cases were ascertained
by the enquiries of the Health Department to have
occurred, making a total of 1,083 known cases of this disease,
of which 41 were in a public institution.
This District is one of the few which require compulsory
notification of this disease, and its value, although very great in
leading to a knowledge of its local characteristics and behaviour,
is yet much lessened by not being carried out in the surrounding
districts. The disease was introduced at the beginning
of the year from Wimbledon, where it is not notifiable, and
where it became epidemic without the full knowledge either of
the local authority, or of this adjoining District, so that no steps