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Nineteen of the cases notified were over the age of 16, one being
a nurse from Grovelands Hospital. The remainder (72) were
children, 13 of them being under school age. Of the remaining 59.
37 attended elementary schools in the district, 5, secondary schools,
9, private schools and 8, schools outside the district.
The case-distribution into wards was as follows:—
North-West Ward, 14 (9 in the Council Housing Estate).
North-East Ward, 18.
Middle Ward, 31.
South Ward, 28.
The highest incidence during the year took place in April and
November, when 14 cases were notified.
Seventy cases were removed to the Isolation Hospital, representing
76.9 per cent, of the total number of cases notified.
Diphtheria.—Twenty-three cases of diphtheria (19 faucial,
2 faucial and laryngeal, 1 nasal and faucial, and 1 nasal) were
notified during 1933 as against eight the previous year. Although
this is a comparatively large increase, the figure is below the average
for the past five years (31.8), and is low for a district with a population
such as Southgate's. In addition, the figure would have been
very much lower had it not been for the localised outbreak which
occurred in the North-West Ward during the latter part of October
and November, when no less than 17 cases occurred.
This outbreak, although numerically unimportant, requires
special consideration. The first case was notified on October 20th
and the last on November 28th, the weekly incidence during that
period being 1, 3, nil, 6, 3, 2, 2. The cases were confined with one
exception to the northern portion of the North-West Ward in and
around the Council's Housing Estate, 6 cases actually occurring
within the Housing Estate itself, although there had not been a
single case of diphtheria in that portion of the district for over a
year. Two deaths took place, one, a child aged 5, and the other
a child aged 3. Apart from these two cases, the type of disease met
with was comparatively mild, all the other patients making a good
recovery under treatment. As soon as the outbreak commenced,
steps were taken to investigate its possible source and also to check
its spread. The first 3 cases occurred in a family in which the
children were attending a school outside the district, but in all the
others (with the one exception noted above, when the case occurred
in the North-East Ward), one or more of the children in the household
affected attended Oakwood School. The milk supply in all
cases was investigated and it was found that the supply came from
varied sources (7 to be exact), thereby eliminating the possibility
of a milk-borne epidemic. In spite of this, the workmen handling
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