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7
Infectious Diseases.
1,255 cases of compulsorily notifiable infectious
diseases, including Tuberculosis, were notified during the
year as compared with 1,665 in 1914. The diminution in
number is mainly due to the diminished prevalence of
Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria.
33 cases of Cerebro-spinal Meningitis were certified
during the year, 4 occurring amongst soldiers and 29 in
the civil population. Cerebro-spinal Meningitis is a disease
in which the death-rate is very high, and under these circumstances
it is satisfactory to record a recovery rate of
65 per cent. amongst all cases treated at the Willesden
Isolation Hospital. In only one instance did a second case
occur in a family, and this is no doubt due to the swabbing
and isolation of contacts which was carried out where practicable
in all cases coming to the notice of the Health
Department.
1,947 cases of Measles were brought under notice
during the year by Teachers, School Attendance Officers,
Health Visitors and others, from which it is calculated that
7,204 cases of Measles occurred in Willesden during the
year 1915. Recently the Local Government Board have,
by order, made this disease notifiable, the order coming into
operation on the 1st January, 191(3. The benefits to be
derived from these notifications at 2s. 6d. or 1s. each, as
the case may be, appear to be doubtful where no facilities
exist for the treatment of the worst cases, amongst which
the death-rate is very high.
798 notifications of Tuberculosis, relating to 425 new
cases, were received during the year. 2,240 cases of
Tuberculosis have now been notified since 1909, when the
disease was first made notifiable, and of that number 838
were still residing in Willesden at the end of 1915.