TWELVE DIE OF DIPHTHERIA.
Total Cases for October, 138; In-
crease of 83 Over Last Year.
During October there were 138 cases of diphtheria reported to the board of health. There were twelve deaths. For the same month a year ago there were but fifty-five cases of the disease reported.
"I didn't know know that there was such an epidemic," said Dr. W. S. Wheeler, sanitary superintendent, when his attention was called to the October record. "Unfortunately the ordinances are weak for a proper control of infectious diseases. Parents in most cases are very careless. They insist on sending their children to school when they complain of being ill. The child who complains of a sore throat may have diphtheria. In this way the infection is spread.
"I hope that when the hospital and health board meets Wednesday it will give me authority to start in on the contemplated inspection of public schools. In this way we will be able to detect contagious diseases among children. The council tonight transferred $5,000 to the health and hospital board for this purpose. It will be money well spent."
Scarlet fever also is rampant among children. The health authorities learned of sixty-five cases during October, against forty-five for the same month in 1908.
