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14
In April, a visitor introduced the disease into another
house in Wallington, and a case in another house in the
same Parish occurred in May. During these two months
3 very severe cases, two of which were fatal, occurred in
3 houses in Lonesome, Mitcham, and all three were
contracted at a school in the adjoining Parish of
Streatham. Two further cases occurred in 2 houses in
Collierswood in May and June, and an attack in a patient
suffering from scarlet fever in Morden was notified. The
second case in connection with Addington School was reported
in the latter month. In July the third case from this school
occurred in a house in Sanderstead Parish, and in September
another child was attacked in the same house. In the latter
month a solitary case occurred at the Russell Hill School,
Purley, an institution, and a lady in Kenley contracted the
disease from a sister whom she had been nursing at the
seaside.
During October 4 cases occurred in widely separated
parts of the district, in houses at Badger's Hole, Addington,
in the Sanderstead Road, near Croydon, at South Beddington,
and in the High Street, Merton; and in November 2
cases in Mitcham were reported. In the last month of the
year 8 cases were notified, 2 in another house- in High
Street, Merton, and the remainder in 5 houses in Mitcham.
Half the children who were attacked in Mitcham during the
last two months of the year attended a new school which
was opened as recently as May last.
Scarlet Fever.—The forecast made in the previous annual
report, that the year 1897 would probably be one of scarlet-fever
prevalence in this district, has been, unfortunately, fulfilled,
and, if anything, to a greater extent than was anticipated.
This disease shows a tendency to recur in populous districts
at intervals of from four to five years ; and since it had been,
comparatively speaking, absent from this district since 1892