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northern end on the St. Helier estate during the four months April to July
and the southern end in the Clockhouse Farm district during the three
months May to July. Incidence in both areas was approximately the same
about 40 cases in each.
A total of 88 cases was notified affecting 56 families. The spread within
each household was distinctly less than in the outbreak of 1958 when the
average number of cases per affected house was 4 in a smaller outbreak of
40 cases.
Scarlet Fever
Scarlet Fever is not nowadays the serious infection it was 50 years ago.
It has for many years past been a mild disease and as a result less importance
is being attached to it by the profession, both from the point of view of
the patient and even more so from the standpoint of precautions against its
spread. With justification the restrictions both on the patient and the
contacts have been progressively relaxed in keeping with the altering
situation, but it is still an infectious illness and can occasionally bring
serious consequences. As in the case of Sonne dysentery, its very mildness is
a considerable handicap in controlling its spread owing to the increasing
indifference with which it is regarded. This may well be a partial, if not a
complete explanation of the steadily rising incidence of scarlet fever in the
area from a low record figure of 26 in 1956 to 59 in 1957, 121 in 1958 and to
144 in 1959. The level of prevalence is still however well below that experienced
before the second world war, when an annual total of 300 was not
uncommon.
Of the total cases 100 representing 69% were nursed at home.