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To enable medical practitioners to administer anti-toxin to
suspicious cases without any delay a supply of anti-toxin is available
at the Town Hall at all hours of the day and night. In cases
where the parents of the patient are too poor to be able to pay
for the anti-toxin, no charge is made. During the year 146,000
units of anti-toxin for 26 cases were supplied free of charge.
Scarlet. Fever.— The number of cases of scarlet fever
occurring during the year under review was 154, this number
showing a great reduction compared with the total of 264 cases
notified in 1930. The scarlet fever case-rate for the Borough is
1.31 per thousand of population, this being the lowest case-rate
since 1918. The rate compares well with that for England and
Wales, which is 2.05. The cases occurred during the months of
the year as indicated in Table VI. As will be seen, the greatest
number of. cases occurred in December, when 28 cases were notified,
while the lowest number occurred in June and July in each of
which months only four cases were notified. The large number of
cases notified during December was mainly accounted for by an
outbreak of the disease in South Ealing associated with Little
Ealing and Grange Infants' Schools, 14 cases occurring within
a week.
With the exception of this outbreak very little connection
was discovered between any of the cases, which were more or less
evenly distributed in the various parts of the Borough. Only
one death occurred from the disease, this being a girl, five years
of age, who died in the Isolation Hospital as a result of a complication
of the disease after a stay of 74 days. This gives a scarlet
fever death-rate of 0.01 per thousand of population. The deathrate
is the same as that for England and Wales and is less than
that for London, which is 0.02 per thousand of population.
Enteric and Para-Typhoid Fever.— One case of enteric
fever was notified. This was a young man 19 years of age.
A possible source of infection in this case was suggested by the
fact that the patient was reported to have been drinking unboiled
river water when camping beside the River Thames. The case
did not prove fatal.
One case was notified as para-typhoid fever but proved later
not to be a case of this disease.