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10
SPECIFIC FEBRILE OR ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
The total number of deaths referred to this group of diseases
was 480; of which 398 were amongst young children under five
years of age, of whom 129 did not complete the first year of life;
132 of the deaths were from Measles; 102 from Diphtheria ; 93 from
Diarrhœa; 62 from Whooping Cough ; and 10 from Scarlet Fever.
NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES ACT.
This Act came into operation on the 30th of October. It
requires every medical practitioner attending cases of certain named
infectious diseases to notify particulars of such cases to the Medical
Officer of Health. The obligation to notify also extends to the
head of the family or person having charge of the sick person. As
a rule the head of the family neglects to notify, and leaves it to
the doctor to do so. The Act has largely increased tho work of
the Sanitary Staff, and has entailed a good deal of correspondence,
but it must be distinctly understood that it confers no new powers
upon Sanitary Authorities, its object being merely to enable them
to obtain early and accurate information of the outbreak of
infectious diseases. A large number of medical certificates have
been received, some of them of rather doubtful value; for the
Inspectors report that upon visiting cases they sometimes find that
the person certified to be suffering from Diphtheria or other
infectious disease is either playing about the streets or gone back
to work. I have also received by one post certificates that certain
persons are suffering from Diphtheria, and by the next post
other certificates signed by other medical men that they have
examined the sick person and could find no evidenoe of infectious
disease about him.