The decline in average fatality in the last two years is remarkable, and is to be explained chiefly by the mild type of smallpox which has been prevalent; a very small fraction of the patients attacked between the ages of ten and twenty-five have died; and these are some two-fifths of the whole. This is shown in the following age-table of 2374 cases admitted to the Metropolitan Board Hospitals in 1893:
Smallpox in London, 1893.
| Age-period | Cases | Deaths | % | |||
| 0-5 | 168 | 53 | 31·5 | |||
| 5-10 | 191 | 16 | 8·3 | |||
| 10-15 | 230 | 7 | 3·0 | |||
| 15-20 | 340 | 7 | 2·0 | |||
| 20-25 | 393 | 13 | 3·3 | |||
| 25-30 | 298 | 23 | 7·7 | |||
| 30-35 | 250 | 14 | 5·6 | |||
| 35-40 | 182 | 13 | 7·1 | |||
| 40-50 | 199 | 18 | 9·0 | |||
| 50-60 | 79 | 9 | 11·4 | |||
| 60-70 | 35 | 6 | 17·1 | |||
| 70-80 | 9 | 1 | 11·1 |
The low rate of fatality during the slight epidemic revival of smallpox in 1892-93 has been found to obtain wherever the disease has occurred:
Smallpox in the Provinces, 1892-93.
| Cases | Deaths | Fatalities per cent. | ||||
| Birmingham | 1203 | 96 | 8 | |||
| Warrington | 598 | 60 | 10 | |||
| Halifax | 513 | 44 | 8·5 | |||
| Manchester | 406 | 27 | 6·7 | |||
| Glasgow | 279 | 23 | 8·2 | |||
| Liverpool | 194 | 15 | 7·7 | |||
| Brighouse | 134 | 15 | 11·2 | |||
| Aston Manor | 113 | 6 | 5·3 | |||
| Leicester | 362 | 21 | 5·8 | |||
| St Albans | 58 | 6 | 10·4 | |||
| 3860 | 313 | 8·10 | ||||
The ages under ten years had only 290 in 3644 of these cases; but those 290 cases had 70 in 302 of the deaths.
In the comparative table for Ireland, of deaths by smallpox, measles, scarlatina and diphtheria, measles in a decreasing population has changed little, while scarlatina has declined greatly, and smallpox has fallen during the last ten years almost to extinction.
Ireland: Deaths by Smallpox, Measles, Scarlatina and Diphtheria from the beginning of Registration.
| Smallpox | Measles | Scarlatina | Diphtheria | |||||
| 1864 | 854 | 630 | 2605 | 661 | ||||
| 1865 | 461 | 1036 | 3683 | 480 | ||||
| 1866 | 194 | 851 | 3501 | 317 | ||||
| 1867 | 21 | 1292 | 2145 | 189 | ||||
| 1868 | 23 | 1251 | 2696 | 202 | ||||
| 1869 | 20 | 948 | 2670 | 243 | ||||
| 1870 | 32 | 954 | 2978 | 188 | ||||
| 1871 | 665 | 547 | 2707 | 226 | ||||
| 1872 | 3248 | 1380 | 2459 | 257 | ||||
| 1873 | 504 | 1303 | 2092 | 326 | ||||
| 1874 | 569 | 667 | 4034 | 565 | ||||
| 1875 | 535 | 898 | 3845 | 443 | ||||
| 1876 | 24 | 664 | 2112 | 368 | ||||
| 1877 | 71 | 1562 | 1117 | 288 | ||||
| 1878 | 873 | 2212 | 1079 | 296 | ||||
| 1879 | 672 | 860 | 1688 | 320 | ||||
| 1880 | 389 | 1025 | 1344 | 314 | ||||
| 1881 | 72 | 402 | 1230 | 323 | ||||
| 1882 | 129 | 1518 | 2443 | 385 | ||||
| 1883 | 16 | 801 | 1765 | 239 | ||||
| 1884 | 1 | 559 | 1377 | 354 | ||||
| 1885 | 4 | 1323 | 1147 | 296 | ||||
| 1886 | 2 | 284 | 850 | 336 | ||||
| 1887 | 14 | 1307 | 973 | 381 | ||||
| 1888 | 3 | 1935 | 849 | 447 | ||||
| 1889 | 0 | 574 | 457 | 358 | ||||
| 1890 | 0 | 726 | 319 | 346 | ||||
| 1891 | 7 | 240 | 308 | 281 | ||||
| 1892 | 0 | 1183 | 419 | 286 |