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18
Scarlet Fever in Hendon Ward.—In all, 28 cases occurred;
13 in Central Hendon, 15 in West Hendon. No case was
reported from Burnt Oak district throughout the year. It
may be well to record one outbreak as showing how the schools
are the means of spreading the infection broadcast. During
September and October 17 cases were reported to me, and in
every instance' they were children attending the British Schools,
Brent Street. I examined all the children in the school, and found
one boy peeling freely all over the body. I should think he must have
had the disease over a fortnight. He had never been away from school
and said he never felt ill in any way. I asked him whether any of his
brothers or sisters were ill, and his reply was, his sister was in bed
with a sore throat. On visiting the house I discovered the little
sister two-and-a-half years old with a very bad throat and a
Scarlet Fever rash full out. The mother, at the time of my visit,
was out at laundry work, and was quite surprised when I told
her. This illustrates how important it is that the schools generally
should be under a system of medical supervision. In the
West Hendon district the fifteen cases reported from this quarter
extended over different parts of the year, and could not be traced
to contamination from any one quarter.
Scarlet Fever in Child's Hill Ward.—A very large number
of cases, namely, 59, were reported from this Ward, but it must
be remembered that it is a \ ery scattered district, and that of this
number 10 occurred at Golder's Green, and attended the British
Schools at Hendon previously spoken of. Seven cases also occurred
at Temple Fortune, and 7 at Cricklewood, the remainder, 35,
coming from Child's Hill district. The number of cases from
Cricklewood is small considering the population, which is larger
than that of Child's Hill. On the other hand the number at
Child's Hill is far above the average. At no one time during the
year was there any large number of cases reported, but the disease
extended itself gradually over the year with the exception of the
last two months. I feel sure that this number would have been
much decreased had it been possible to remove all the
cases away to the Hospital ; but owing to that institution