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17
Fever.—The deaths from the three diseases grouped under the
head of "fever" were 23—eight below the number in 1878, and
exactly half the corrected decennial average.
Typhus.—One death was attributed to this disease. It was of a
young lady aged 14, who, within a few days of her death, had been
in daily attendance at a well-known public school at Chelsea, walking
there and back from Notting Hill, and working assiduously. All the
facts that came out on the investigation of the case, pointed to the
probability that the fatal disease was meningitis. A death of a
parishioner from typhus took place at the London Fever Hospital on the
day following the patient's removal from Silchester Road, Notting Hill.
The deceased, a fireman in the service of the Metropolitan Railway
Company, had been ill two or three weeks. The case became known
to me through the Registrar-General's weekly return. On making
arrangements for disinfecting the sick room, &c., it appeared that the
clothing of the deceased had been sent to an address in Bristol, which
was forthwith communicated to the Medical Officer of Health for that
city.
Enteric Fever.—The deaths from enteric fever, 14 in number (including
two in Brompton), were less than half the corrected decennial
average. In some instances the illness appeared to have been caused
by sanitary defects in the houses of the deceased, giving rise to pollution
of air or water; while in four cases it was proved that the disease
had been "imported." The quarterly numbers of deaths were 0, 3, 7,
and 4 respectively. Seven of the deaths occurred between 23-47
years, two under 5, and five between 5-12.
The most remarkable outbreak of enteric fever, during 1879, occurred
at a house in Onslow Gardens; six persons out of a household
of ten having been affected, viz., three young ladies, two servants, and
a charwoman. On enquiry it was stated at first, very positively, that
the cases had occurred simultaneously on the 7th October, the charwoman
having been employed at the house on Thursday, 25th
September, and Thursday, 2nd October. No sanitary defect was found
in the house or locality, to account for the outbreak. Milk of course
came under suspicion, but the freedom from illness of other families