Influenza was reported as the cause of 437 deaths. The first four months of the year account for 172 of the total deaths from this cause. In May there was a marked decline, which continued in June, July, August and September. In the last named month there was only one influenza death. The slight rise in October, November and December did not reach the May and June heights. It seems not unlikely that this indoor disease is retarded through November and December and the cold part of October because of the outdoor life experienced in the late spring, the summer and the autumn months. In other words, we probably must remain indoors for sixty or ninety days to develop the conditions necessary for the growth of the infection. INFLUENZA DEATHS BY AGES. Like pneumonia, influenza causes a high mortality in infants under one year of age. After the first year and until between twenty-five and thirty years of age the disease is not very fatal. After thirty the fatality again decreases, not rising until forty. The greatest fatality begins at sixty and is highest at eighty years of age and over. SCARLET FEVER. The reported number of deaths from this cause was 131. December shows the most deaths-twenty-from this cause. The lowest mortality-one-was in August. The diagram shows the first five and the last three months of the year as probably most favorable for this disease. DIAGRAM SHOWING DEATHS FROM SCARLET FEVER BY MONTHS, FOR YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1900. SCARLET FEVER DEATHS BY AGES. Of the total number of scarlet fever deaths-forty-two, or 32 per cent., occurred between the ages of five to ten. In the first year of life the chances to escape this disease are as good as from ten to fifteen. The highest rates are from one to ten years. DIAGRAM SHOWING DEATHS FROM SCARLET FEVER BY AGES, FOR YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1900. |