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114
It is satisfactory to note that Enteric Fever was entirely absent,
whether this is due to the efforts of your staff in the greater supervision
now being given to eating houses, ice-cream premises, milk shops,
food stalls, etc., remains to be seen. At all events, I feel amply rewarded
for my action in making this work a "speciality" by placing it entirely
under the supervision of one of your Inspectors—Mr. Syms.
Diarrhoea in young children is a matter of concern because a great
deal of it is preventable. Many cases, but not all, are due to filth, wrong
feeding, and bad mothercraft. The remedy is education at the Maternity
and Child Welfare Centres and increased efforts on the part of our Health
Visitors in the homes of the mothers. So convinced am I that this trouble
can be lessened by better sanitation and greater efforts of education, that
I have, during the past year, instructed the district Sanitary Inspectors
to visit and report on the sanitary conditions of the house of every known
case of Diarrhoea.
SMALLPOX.
During the year under review 22 cases were notified. The number of
cases notified during the last five years is as follows:—
1930 106 1933 63
1931 31 1934 22
1932 161
One case in the person of a male aged 16 was removed to hospital
from 77, Malyons Road, Lewisham, suffering from Smallpox, on February
14th, and died on February 18th.
He had been staying with relations at 20, Kinglake Street up to
January 20th, and was a contact of Julia Kendall, of 4, Smyrks Road.
This death was accepted under the Memorandum respecting the
distribution of transferable deaths.
SCARLET FEVER.
Seven hundred and forty-eight cases of this disease were notified
during the year. The annual death-rate per 1,000 population for England
and Wales was 0.02; for London, 0.02; and for Southwark, 0.03.
The number of cases notified and the number of deaths during the
last five years were as follows:—