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the diphtheria bacillus was found to exist in her throat, and 3
other children in the same house having suffered from sore-throat,
all were notified as cases of diphtheria. Another case occurred
in Merton in a man who had been employed in cleansing a
diphtheria ward at the Tooting Hospital of the Metropolitan
Asylums Board. A case also occurred in Wallington at a house
where children attended a school in Carshalton, in connection
with which there was at the time some prevalence of the disease,
and 2 cases were reported from the Holborn Schools, Mitcham,
in 2 sisters who had been admitted from London eight days prior
to the date of attack.
During the last two months of the year two cases occurred
in the neighbourhood of Beddington Corner, where again " sorethroats
" were ascertained, by a house to house enquiry, to
exist amongst a considerable proportion of the children attending
the local school, and in one case at least the sore-throat had been
followed by diphtheritic paralysis. This patient had nevertheless
attended school until the paralysis demanded attention.
Several children were excluded from school as a precautionary
measure. It should be mentioned that drainage defects were
also found to exist at the school.
Table E in the appendix shows the history of diphtheria and
membranous croup in each parish for each year of the notification
period.
Fever.—Fourteen cases of enteric or typhoid fever, and 2
of continued fever were reported during 1896, or a total of 16,
as compared with an annual average of 15 during the previous 6
years of the notification period.
The first case reported was in January in a house in Kenley,
where a case had occurred in the last month of the previous year
and was contracted in Wimbledon. A case of continued fever
was reported at a house in Collierswood, Mitcham, in February,
and 2 cases of enteric fever occurred in the same parish in March,