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26
By referring to the table given on page 41, the number
of cases of Infectious Disease notified during 1909
will be seen.
The fifty-six cases of scarlet fever were scattered throughout
the district, and few of the twenty occurring in Barnes had any
obvious relation to each other. Of the thirty-six cases in Mortlake
six arose in connection with a large educational establishment at
Richmond attended by girls from this district.
No cases were found in this district to have been related to
the sharp outbreak of milk-borne scarlatina which, during the
summer, affected a part of Surrey and South-West London.
The forty-three cases of diphtheria were also, with the
exception of the few already alluded to as affecting the Green
Schools, apparently not related to each other. The severity of the
cases, and the proportion of those with laryngeal implication was,
however, considerable.
Our laryngeal cases of diphtheria usually come from Mortlake,
and a good many cases of false croup are seen amongst the poor of
that parish.
The table on page 47 affords an opportunity of comparing our
yearly records.
It is clear that, although 1909 was not quite so good a year as
1908, our position in respect of the principal infectious diseases
continues to improve.
It is well known that there is an annual as well as a seasonal
curve for infectious diseases, 1909 was a year in which a high
wave was due.
But the high waves are not so high as formerly, and the
occurrence rate of scarlet fever, diphtheria and typhoid is, on the