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9
cough. As was the case in 1895 three-fourths of the notifications of
infectious diseases were due to two diseases alone, diphtheria and
scarlet fever, the next highest as before being typhoid fever and
erysipelas. Of the deaths from zymotic diseases more than twothirds
were due to measles and whooping cough, the remainder being
due chiefly to diphtheria, diarrhoea and scarlet fever. These will be
found fully recorded in the statistical tables and are also dealt with
under their proper heads. In the whole of London there were
14,009 deaths from all the principal zymotic diseases, giving a
zymotic death rate of 3.11, the notifications amounting to 49,705, with
an annual rate per thousand of 7.1.
In 1896, the number of notifications of all infectious diseases in
Bow was 549, equal to an annual rate of 13.0 per thousand. These
figures compare with London as follows—total notifications, 49,705;
annual rate per thousand, 7.1. For the Eastern districts the figures
for notifications and percentages fell as follows:—Shoreditch, 1506,
12.1; Bethnal Green, 2191, 16.7; Whitechapel, 1195, 14.9;
St. George's 719, 14.9; Limehouse, 769, 15.0; Mile End Old Town
1634, 14.5; Poplar, 2189, 12.7. The notifications for the whole
Poplar district were 12.7; in the other East End districts the
figures were, Poplar 12.7, Shoreditch, 9.4, Bethnal Green, 13.6,
Whitechapel, 13.8, St. George's-in-the-East, 14.4, Limehouse, 13.1,
and Mile End, 13.8. As I stated in my last Annual Report, this
shows a different condition as contrasted with the mortality from
zymotic diseases, but it is, I feel certain, due entirely to the
encouragement given by your Board to medical practitioners generally
to acquaint your sanitary staff with the existence of even suspicious
rases of infectious disease.
It is not necessary again to refer to the question of notification as
practised in Bow, for I fully explained in my last report that a safe
and careful method of notifying suspicious cases may convey the
impression that the district is not in such a good condition as
compared with other areas where a similar policy is not followed.