View report page

30
Willesden Local Board.
There were 221 cases notified, half of them being in
the South Ward. The number notified last year was
141, very nearly half of which were in the South
Ward, so that the tendency for it to be settled in the
more populated parts is more pronounced. No doubt
many of the cases were of a very mild nature and
would not be classed by all medical men as Diphtheria,
but in some cases the disease proved its virulent
character by the number attacked in the house.
In my report for 1891 I referred to the condition
of school attendance as being conducive to the
spread of the disease, the school age being the one most
liable to attack. The present increase showing itself
so much more in towns seems again to point to the
schools as the principal source. No particular school
in the district has been associated with any special
preponderance. I have great hopes that the opportunities
of isolation which the completion of the
hospital will afford may have good results in reducing
the number of cases. I am satisfied that the improvement
in the drainage of the High Street,
Harlesden, which the Board had carried out about
three years ago, has had a decidedly beneficial effect
on the number of cases in the neighbourhood, only
one case having been notified in 1892 and 1893.
At one house in the South Ward eight cases
occurred. I visited the house on two or three
occasions, the drains were tested, and the house was
examined by the Sanitary Inspector, but no defects
were found; I can only think that the importance
of absolutely keeping the children apart was not
fully realized. The number of deaths, including 12
in the Metropolitan hospitals, has been 44, which
gives a rate of 0'63 per 1,000. This is above the
general average of a few years ago. The rate for
London has averaged about 0.75.