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12
Small Pox.
No case of Small Pox was notified during the year.
Scarlet Fever.
2,009 cases were notified during the year, or 1,225 more than in the previous
year. 1,971 were removed to Fever Hospitals.
253 belonged to the Limehouse District, with 3 deaths;
257 belonged to St. George-in-the-East, with 5 deaths;
705 belonged to Mile End Old Town, with 7 deaths;
794 belonged to the Whitechopel District, with 10 deaths.
The death rate for the whole Borough was .09 per 1,000 of the population,
while that for the whole of London was .07 per 1,000.
Scarlet Fever was prevalent in the Borough during the latter half of the year.
It seemed to be more prevalent in this Borough than in neighbouring Boroughs,
and was most prevalent in the western portion of the Borough—a large proportion
of the patients attending schools in the district west of Sidney Street.
The outbreak was partly due to the existence of cases which had not been
recognised, and also to the wilful or ignorant exposure by parents in public places
of children suffering from Scarlet Fever. One flagrant case was that of a woman,
who was told that the child was suffering from Scarlet Fever, and that she was to
keep the child in bed until the ambulance arrived to remove him to the Fever
Hospital. When the Sanitary Inspector called to inspect the premises, he was
informed that the mother had taken the child to the London Hospital. The
Inspector immediately went to the London Hospital, where he found the mother
and child sitting in the waiting-room of the out-patient department, with a crowd
of other people. On another occasion, the school teacher was about to punish a
boy, by striking him on the hand with a cane, when the teacher noticed the boy's
hand was 'peeling.' He sent the boy home and communicated with me. I examined
the boy, and there was no doubt in my mind that the child was recovering from the
effects of Scarlet Fever. I interviewed the mother, who went out to work, and she
admitted that three weeks previously, the boy had a rash which she attributed to
fish poisoning. He was indoors for two days, and subsequently, had been playing
in the streets with other children.
A woman living in East India Dock Road was taken ill and had a sore throat
on a Monday. Her landlady told her that she thought she was suffering from
Scarlet Fever. On the two following days, she was unable to leave her bed, but on
the fourth day (Thursday) she travelled with her baby, aged 14 months, by London
Brighton & South Coast Railway to Chichester, in the same compartment with