View report page

36
44. The Annual Report for 1905 contained a special
Report on a Statistical Investigation into School Incidence
of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria during the ten years 1896-1905.
45. Statistics were given in the Annual Report for 1908,
as to the date of calling in medical attendance in scarlet
fever. Some remarks were made in the same Report as
to the high prevalence and comparatively low death-rates
of scarlet fever and diphtheria in Woolwich.
In the 1910 Annual Report I described an investigation into
the incubation period of scarlet fever. The result was to
show (1) That the period of incubation varies from one day
to six months; (2) That it is barely the majority of the total
cases in which incubation is under seven days ; (3) That in
a considerable proportion of cases it is over four weeks ; and
(4) That the days from the second to the fifth after exposure
are those in which most secondary cases occur.
DIPHTHERIA.
46. 381 cases of diphtheria were notified (excluding 48
cases of mistaken diagnosis), compared with 240, 147, and
204, in the three preceding years. The case-rate (number of
cases per 1,000 population), corrected for cases of mistaken
diagnosis, was 3 09, compared with"1.88,1.15, and 1.68, in the
three preceding years, and 2.15—the average of the ten preceding
years. 28 of the cases were bacteriological—i.e.
had no symptoms.
47. There were 20 deaths, compared with 25, 5, and 11,
in the three preceding years. The death-rate was 0.16,