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a midwife has been in attendance, visits her for the purpose of
making further enquiries and of giving instructions as to the
disinfection of her clothes, instruments, etc. The midwife is not
permitted to attend other cases until the County Medical Officer
decides that she can do so without danger.
The following is the history of one of the fatal cases. Mrs. X
was attended by a midwife in her confinement on Oct. 6th and,
owing to her becoming seriously ill, a doctor was called in on Oct.
9th, who had the patient removed without delay to the Union
Infirmary, where she died on the day following. The case was
subsequently notified to me as one of puerperal fever. The day
following Mrs. X's removal to hospital three of her children were
reported to be suffering from scarlet fever and on enquiry it was
found that these children had been ill for some time before their
mother's confinement, a rash having been noticed on one of them on
Oct. 3rd. Had the nature of these children's illness been recognised
sufficiently early to secure their removal to hospital and the
disinfection of the house before their mother's confinement took
place, there would, in all probability, have been no complication in
connection with it and no fatality to record.
Erysipelas. Sixty-six cases were notified, compared with 74
in the previous year. Two of the cases occurred in the Edmonton
Union Infirmary. Two cases occurred in one house and the
remaining 62 cases were in separate houses. There was one death
in a female aged 68 years.
Enteric Fever. Forty-four cases were notified, as against 38,
40, and 58 in the three preceding years. This is equal to an attack
rate of 0-86 per 1,000 of the population. The cases occurred in 39
houses and 31 streets, and one case was reported from Edmonton
Union Infirmary. The removals to hospital numbered 30, an
isolation percentage of 68. There were six deaths, giving a fatality
of 13.6 per cent., and a death rate of 011 per 1,000. The incidence