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67
It should be noted that the figures headed
"Notifications" do not accurately represent the number
of cases, as no doubt they include a proportion of case6
mistakenly diagnosed as clinical Diphtheria, undue
reliance being placed upon a positive bacteriological
report as a basis for notification.
Anti - diphtheritic serum is stocked at the Town
Hall and supplied free on the order of a doctor; 32,000
units were supplied during the year.
Scarlet Fever.
There were 569 cases of scarlet fever notified during
the year, 566 of the patients being removed to an
isolation hospital.
The relative mildness of the disease in recent years
indirectly leads to the spread of the disease, through
many "missed" cases of an ambulatory type living
amongst the general population.
No use has been made in the Borough, so far as I
am aware, either of the Dick test for the purpose of
diagnosis or of serum for immunisation or therapeutic
purposes.
Four deaths were returned by the Registrar-General
as due to scarlet fever during the year, equal to a case
mortality of 0.7 per cent., and a death rate of 0.036
per 1,000 population.