View report page

17
During the year 1898, 86 per cent of the cases certified as scarlet fever were
removed for treatment to the various infectious hospitals, as compared with 75 per
cent in 1897, 70 per cent in 1896, 60 per cent in 1895*, 65 in 1894 and 37 in 1893*.
It is very satisfactory to observe the increasing use made of the fever hospitals,
especially in a densely populated district like Shoreditch where there are so many
families dwelling in two or three or four rooms. In such cases it is hardly
necessary to point out that children cannot be treated at home without serious risk of
spreading infections.
Scarlet fever was less prevalent in Shoreditch during 1898 than in any year since
the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, came into operation. Cases were most
numerous during the second quarter of the year.
The cases of scarlet fever certified in the metropolis during 1898 numbered 16,917,
the population being attacked at the rate of 3'7 per 1,000, and the deaths attributed
to scarlet fever numbered 583, as compared with 780 in 1897 and 942 in 1896, and
the death-rate due to this disease was 0.13 per 1,000 inhabitants, as against 0.17 in
1897 and 021 in 1896.
DIPHTHERIA (including Membranous Croup).
The number of cases of diphtheria certified during 1898 was 259 as compared
with 361 in 1897, 356 in 1896, 244 in 1895, 303 in 1894 and 513 in 1893. The disease
was most prevalent in Shoreditch during the fourth quarter of the year. The deaths
numbered 45 as compared with 80 in 1897, 75 in 1896, 59 in 1895, 76 in 1894 and
149 in 1893.
The mortality amongst those who suffered from the disorder in Shoreditch was
markedly less than in previous years, being 17.3 percent., as compared with 22.1 per
cent, in 1897, 21.0 in 1896, 24.1 in 1895, 25.0 in 1894, and 29.0 in 1893.
Of 122 cases amongst children under five years of age, 36 terminated fatally, the
mortality being 29.5 per cent., as compared with 36.0 per cent, in 1897, 31.8 per
cent, in 1896, 47.5 per cent, in 1895, 48 per cent, in 1894, and 61 in 1893.
Of 137 cases amongst persons aged 5 years and upwards, 9 were fatal, the
mortality being 6.5 per cent., as compared with 9.9 in 1897,12.8 in 1896, 7.0 in 1895
11.5 in 1894, and 11.4 in 1893. The whole of the deaths from diphtheria during
1898 were of children under 15 years of age. Of 484 deaths from diphtheria which
have been registered of persons belonging to Shoreditch during the six years 1893-98,
eleven only, or 2.2 per cent., have been of persons aged fifteen years and upwards.
The death-rate from diphtheria in Shoreditch during 1898 was 0.37 per 1,000
inhabitants (see Appendix table XXXI).
* During portions of these years owing to lack of accommodation at the fever hospitals many
cases were treated at home which would otherwise have been removed to hospital.