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48
and first quarter, 1938, for Shoreditch, London and England and Wales are shown
in the following table. It must be noted that these figures probably only account
for a proportion of the total cases actually occurring.

From the above it would seem that the epidemic reached its maximum in
England and Wales and in London generally at the beginning of December, 1937.
As far as Shoreditch was concerned there was a lag in the peak period which in fact
did not occur until the beginning of January, 1938. Thereafter there was a decrease
in the number of cases in the borough but cases continued to be notified at the
rate of one or two a week with some blank weeks until the end of September. Between
that time and the end of the year only five cases were notified in the borough. It
appears therefore that the epidemic as such has burned itself out, but as the
environment in which it flourishes continues, namely, congestion, overcrowding
and poverty with their consequent trend to uncleanliness, one cannot feel at all
happy about the probability of non-recurrence.