London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Surbiton 1896

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Surbiton]

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8
nurse had become infected while dressing the wound.
The patient died; and it was stated later on that prior to
attending this case, the nurse had been in attendance on a
case of diphtheria; but an interval of fully a month had
elapsed, and thorough disinfection] had been practised.
The drainage was not found in fault.

The following table records some facts in connection with the diphtheria cases of this and former years.

Houses invaded.Cases.Deaths.Average Age per case.Case mortality per cent.
18903136*319.58.3
18911621109.847.6
18921416118.16.2
18931923318.713.0
18941320317.315.0
18951212113.58.3
†189689214.422.2

*27 of these cases were due to an infected milk supply,
†The combined districts.
Erysipelas.
10 cases, one of which was removed to the Isolation
Hospital, and proved severe and tedious. No deaths.
Epidemic
Influenza.
This disease is now a species of annual, recurring
year by year, much about the same time; for referring to
my notes I find it reappeared almost suddenly on the
18th February, 1895, and now I have to report that last
year, 1896, it was again very prevalent in February,
exhausting itself in the course of a few weeks, to appear
again in October, though not so severely. At the time of
writing it is once more in evidence. No deaths are
attributed to it.
Scarlet Fever.
A total of 19 cases and one death. The majority of
these were notified in the first quarter of the year, and of
the remainder three or four were in the summer, and three