A contribution to the natural history of scarlet fever : based upon official statistical records of mortality and morbidity / by John T. Wilson.
- John T. Wilson
- Date:
- [1897]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A contribution to the natural history of scarlet fever : based upon official statistical records of mortality and morbidity / by John T. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Introductory. This Paper embraces the greater part of a Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, accepted and commended by the University of Aberdeen, in March, 1896. The Appendix, comprising twenty-two tables of Annual Statistics, has been omitted, owing to the cost of reproduction, but its contents are summarised in the tables scattered throughout the text.] WITH the introduction of compulsory notification of infectious disease by medical practitioners and the establishment of fever hospitals, furnishing statistics of sickness or morbidity, fresh material now exists, and is rapidly accumulating, for the further elucidation of problems connected with the natural history of the diseases notified. Scarlet Fever is one of these diseases, and the need for such material is keenly felt in seeking to account for the great reduction in its mortality during recent years. Towards determining the causes of the reduction in Scarlet Fever mortality the greater part of this thesis is devoted. Deeply conscious of the vastness of the subject, the importance of the questions raised, and the need for exhaustive inquiry, I have brought together a considerable quantity of material, which is arranged in two parts. In Part I. I have endeavoured to ascertain to what extent the reduction has affected the different com- munities (urban and rural) in Scotland, England, and Ireland, and also whether a similar reduction has been observed in other countries than the United Kingdom. After having discussed these and other questions related to the progress of Scarlet Fever mortality, I have sought to determine in Part II. the causes of diminution in mortality, from statistics of morbidity and fatality. The sources from which the statistical material has been drawn are mostly well known The statistics of mortality relating t© the United' Kingdom are taken from the annual and other reports of the Registrars-General for Scotland, England, and Ireland. Those relating to other countries are obtained from sources which are acknowledged where given. The statistics of morbidity and fatality have, to a large extent, been obtained privately from Health Officers and their reports, and also from the reports of the Local Government Boards for Scotland and England. To all those who have furnished me with statistics I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness, and hope the care I have bestowed in their preparation has ensured accuracy. The term fatality (is used exclusively to denote the relation of deaths to sicknesses, and is statistically expressed as the proportion of deaths in a given number of cases. JNO. T. WILSON, M.D.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22395131_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
