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26
Willesden Local Board.
NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASES.
The Local Act requiring the above came into
force in October, 1887, and has been in operation,
therefore, for over six years. I do not think that any
difficulty has arisen in the working of the Act, either
in the time of my predecessor, the late Mr. Branthwaite,
or since you did me the honour t,o appoint
me as your Medical Officer in 1889, but that it has
been most loyally and willingly carried out by the
medical men of the neighbourhood. Having myself
given up general practice in the district at the
beginning of the year, there has been, I think, a
disposition on the part of some of the medical men
to ask my co-operation in cases presenting doubts and
difficulties (and there must be always such) and an
expression of satisfaction that there should be some one
of an independent position whose assistance they can
ask under such circumstances
There has been a large increase in the number of
notifications, the total being 1,035, giving an average
of 14.92 per 1,000 of the population. The number
of deaths from zymotic diseases has been 167 including
13 that have occurred in the Metropolitan hospitals,
this gives an average death rate of 2.41 which is lower
than the zymotic rate for the country generally, which
is about 3.25, but is of course liable to vary.
Small Pox.
Small Pox has broken out twice during the year,
several cases having been notified on each occasion; the
first was in the spring, when there were nine cases, and
the second at the end of the year, when there were
fourteen. The first case in the spring was a young
man who was partially imbecile, and on that account
could not be received into the Highgate Hospital; he