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One case—a child two years of age—was fondled, seven days
before falling ill, by a Fever Hospital nurse.
44. In many cases infection was attributed to friends, neighbours,
and schoolfellows. But the number of cases in which it
is possible to point to a probable source of infection is small,
and will probably remain so until the germ of Scarlet Fever is
discovered. It is probable that in this disease, as in Diphtheria,
besides many mild and undetected cases, there are numbers of
children and some adults who, without any symptoms, carry the
infection of Scarlet Fever in their throats and noses. Under
ordinary circumstances, such "carriers" would infect others
seldom, if at all; but when they get colds and coughs, the germs
are more liable to be conveyed from the throat and nose of the
carrier to other persons, and they become, perhaps, as infectious
as an ordinary case of the disease.
45. If this theory is correct, it follows that there can be no
prospect of abolishing Scarlet Fever at present, The diminution
of the fatality of the disease by hygienic open-air treatment, and
the separate isolation of the severer cases in cubicles, is the end
to aim at. Table V. shows that in Woolwich there has been a
considerable reduction in death rate.
46. School infection.—Table VI. shows the number of cases
attending each school, the number on the roll, and the rate per
thousand on the roll. The schools which had the highest incidence
rate of Scarlet Fever were Pope Street, Elizabeth Street,
Timbercroft Road, and Bostal Lane. The lowest rates were at
Union Street and Mulgrave Place.
In February and March a very mild epidemic of Scarlet Fever
prevailed in New Eltham, where Pope Street School is situated.
A number of children complained of nothing but sore throats.
At my request, Dr. C. J. Tiiomas, of the London County Council,