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49
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
in nine cases, and was desquamating in six cases, that is, of the 36
households affected, in 15 cases the parents observed some cause
which might have been the source of the infection of the subsequent
cases.
In the case of Diphtheria nothing was noted by the parents,
but this could hardly be expected as the child on return may have
the bacillus present without any actual clinical symptoms.
In many of the cases there was little doubt that the nasal
discharge was the cause of the subsequent cases, but in some of the
cases stated to be desquamating a careful examination was made
but no desquamation could be detected. My visits, however, were
generally made some days after the case had been returned, but
the statements of the parents were quite bond fide, and I had no
reason to doubt their accuracy.
The report of the medical man appointed by the Metropolitan
Asylums Board has not been received, but I am of opinion that it
would be wiser on the part of the Metropolitan Asylums Board
Authorities to keep suspicious cases a few days longer in the
hospital rather than run the risk of spreading the disease. In
several of the cases in this Borough it has been a most serious
thing for the parents, and I understand that in two of the cases
representations were made by them to the Metropolitan Asylums
Board.
In the Tables is also given the number of days elapsing
between the return home of the case from hospital and the first
symptoms of the subsequent case, but in a large proportion of the
cases the patients were not permitted to mix with the other
children after returning for some days. This accounts for the
marked difference in the number of days elapsing before the subsequent
cases occurred.