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13
known caused a good deal of alarm amongst the general public,
though the disease never became seriously epidemic.
The Registrar-General has recently called attention to a rapidly
increasing tendency on the part of Londoners to avail themselves,
in cases of Scarlet Fever, of the means of isolation provided by the
Metropolitan Asylums' Board. This is shown by the fact, that,
during 1887, more than one third of the deaths in the metropolis
from Scarlet Fever occurred in Hospital.
In answer to the following communication from the Asylums'
Board, I prepared the report on page 14.
TnE Metropolitan Asylums' Board,
Norfolk House, Norfolk Street,
London, W.C.
October 21th, 1887.
Dear Sir,
SCARLET FEVER.
With a view to forming as correct an estimate as possible, of the
accommodation to be provided in future for scarlet fever cases in the Metropolis,
I am instructed, by the General Purposes Committee of this Board, to invite the
co-operation of your Board in collecting more complete information than is at
present in their possession, as to the prevalence of Scarlet Fever in the
Metropolis at the present time.
The Committee would point out, that although the numbers of patients under
treatment in the Hospitals of this Board are at this date more than treble the
numbers under treatment at any one time during the past 10 years, yet the
Returns of the Registrar-General shew, that the mortality from Scarlet Fever in
the Metropolitan District is below rather than above the general average.
The deaths, however, amongst the patients under treatment at the Managers'
Hospitals, form, year by year, an increasing per centage of the total number of
deaths in the Metropolis; and, it appears a fair inference, that the numbers in
the Managers' Hospitals have also assumed a correspondingly increased
proportion of the total number of persons attacked in the Metropolis.
The difficulty of obtaining reliable information on this subject, in the absence
of any system for the notification of infectious disease, induces the Managers to
request your Board to assist the object in view, by inviting a Report from their
Medical Officer of Health, as to the extent, as compared with previous years, to
which Scarlet Fever has been prevalent during the present year in the District
under his charge.
I have, therefore, to request, that you will be good enough to lay this letter
before your Board at their next Meeting, and urge the desirability of obtaining,
at an early date, and placing at the disposal of the Managers, all the information
they may obtain upon the subject.
Yours faithfully,
R. Voss, Esq. W. F. JEBB,
Clerk.