View report page

Not including a fatal case admitted to General Hospital from Mitcham and
thence transferred to the Borough Hospital.
As usual, the larger proportion of cases occurred in the first and
fourth quarters of the year, though the difference is not so marked
as is usually the case. It will be seen from Table III. that all parts
of the borough were fairly equally affected. Though a certain proportion
of the cases were associated with school attendance, there
was no marked incidence at any one school, with the exception of
Rockmount Road Infants' School, where 20 cases occurred in the first
quarter of the year. Of these three ended fatally. Of the 20
children 16 attended the infants' school, the large majority being in
the second class. In four other instances diphtheria attacked
children attending the Mixed School. The spread to the Mixed
School was accounted for by the fact that the disease spread from an
infant to an older child, who continued attendance at school until
this fact was discovered by investigations made in the district. On
this occasion considerable pressure was brought on the medical
officer to induce him to close the school, but it was decided to adopt
the far more satisfactory plan of examining every child attending
the infants' school, and of permitting the continued attendance of
those found free from diphtheria. Arrangements were simultaneously
made for the inspection and bacteriological examination of all
absentees, and especially of those who had been closely associated
with the diphtheria patients. These administrative procedures
entailed considerable work, both for the health visitors and for the
medical staff, but appeared to be eminently satisfactory in bringing
the outbreak to a close. Of the 20 cases at least seven were discovered
by the examinations just referred to. Arrangements were
also made for the examination of all children who were sent back to
school after temporary absence. Of the 20 cases the onset of not