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47
supply of anti-toxin from a firm of wholesale chemists, and the
following letter was sent by the Medical Officer of Health to all the
medical practitioners practising in Hatnpstead. Five applications for
anti-toxin were received before the end of the year.
Public Health Department,
7, Belsize Park Gardens,
Hampstead, N.W.
Dear Sir,
In accordance with a recent Order of the Local Government
Board, the Ilampstead Borough Council have arranged for the free supply
of diphtheria anti-toxin to medical practitioners for use among the
poorer inhabitants of Ilampstead The Local Government Board attach
great importance to the prompt treatment of diphtheria by anti-toxin.
You are aware that the beneficial effect of anti-toxin in the treatment of
diphtheria depends greatly upon the stage of the disease in which it is
administered; it has been conclusively shown that patients treated on
the first or second day can almost invariably be cured, and hence it is
most important that anti-toxin should be administered in cases where
diphtheria may reasonably be suspected, without waiting for bacteriological
confirmation of the diagnosis. In order to facilitate the early
use of anti-toxin, I have been empowered by the Borough Council to
supply it to medical practitioners making application to the Public
Health Department, 7, Belsize Park Gardens, N.W. The application
should be in writing, and should state the name and address of the
patient for whom the anti-toxin is required.
The supply of anti-toxin is not, of course, intended as a substitute
for removal to hospital of a patient suffering from diphtheria, or as
implying that a patient to whom anti-toxin has been administered may
properly be retained for treatment at home unless means are available
for his efficient isolation.
I am, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
G. F. McCleary.
Enteric Fever.
The number of cases notified was 16 as compared with 13 in 1909
and 21 in 1908. The attack-rate per 1000 population was 0.17. The
number of fatal cases was 3, or 18.7 per cent. of the cases notified. The
death-rate per 1000 population was 0.03; 8 patients, or 50 per cent. of
the total cases notified, were removed to hospital.