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268
Measles.
No. of Cases recorded 1899, 52: 1898 1,196 ; 1897, ?
No. of Deaths „ 4; „ 89 ; „ 2
Fatality 7.7: „ 7.4; „ ?
Mortality† „ 0.03; „ 069; „ 0.01
"That 1899 was a non-epidemic year," sums up
the history of the disease so far as the Parish was
concerned. The efforts made in 1898 to exercise
some control over its prevalence were continued.
From the schools 52 cases were reported, on which
basis the 4 deaths recorded during the year would be
equivalent to a fatality rate of 7.7 per cent. Such a
rate indicates a malignancy which is unsupported by
collateral evidence, and hence it must be concluded
that the information received was very incomplete, a
result which was expected. There will always be a
tendency to ignore the existence of the few cases which
occur in non-epidemic periods. It is, however, by
dealing with such cases that the best results in preventing
epidemics are to be obtained.
The death-rate from this disease (0.03 per 1,000)
was the lowest recorded since 1889, with the exception
of that for 1897 (0.01), and was 036 below the decennial
mean. As 1899 was a non-epidemic year, it will
be more satisfactory to compare its rate with the
mean for the non-epidemic years included in the decennium
1889-98. There were 5 such years, with a
* "Fatulity" represents the number of deaths per 100 cases of the disease
recorded.
† "Mortality," the death-rate per 1,000 persons of all ages.