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9
Kingston and Surbiton, no deaths being recorded in
either place.
Scarlet Fever was, however, epidemic in the
district, and the notification returns being available
for Kingston and Surbiton I will compare those two
places. As this is a disease of childhood, enquiry
must be made into the relative numbers of children
in the two places. Between the ages of 1 and 15
(very few cases occur amongst infants) there are
8,444 children in Kingston to 2,513 in Surbiton, or
nearly 3.4 times as many in the Borough. Now in
Surbiton 94 cases are recorded, which, multiplied by
3.4 gives 319.6, supposing the children's attack rate
to be the same in Kingston as in Surbiton. Happily
it is not as high, being only 277, nearly 5 per 1,000
children less. With regard to deaths, had the
Kingston children died at the same rate as in
Surbiton, there would have been 10 deaths instead of
7, the actual number.
Diphtheria being a disease the treatment of
which is appreciably affected by considerations of air
space, early diagnosis, and skilled nursing, it is
naturally less fatal and less frequent in the large
houses of Surbiton, where the doctor is called in for
the slightest ailment and where trained nurses are
sent for with promptitude, than in the smaller and
poorer homes of Kingston, where the doctor is only
fetched when the child is seriously ill and where
trained nurses are as unattainable as the specific that
will rid the world of this terrible scourge. This
disease chiefly attacks young children, the greatest
mortality being under 5 years of age. Of this age
in Kingston we have 3,271, as against 851 in
Surbiton, or nearly four times as many. In Kingston
127 cases were notified, with 23 deaths; and in
Surbiton 23 cases with 3 deaths. By comparing
the two places on these terms it will be seen
that our 127 cases must be put against 92 for