View report page

The residence of shortest duration was 9 days and that of longest
duration 494 days. The average stay in hospital was 68.0 days.
Of the cases admitted to hospital as Diphtheria, 45 had been wrongly
diagnosed, as follows Tonsillitis, 28; Measles, 3; Sore Throat, 3;
'•Not Diphtheria," 3; Scarlet Fever, 2; Rhinitis, 2; Ulcerative
Tonsillitis, 1; Pharyngitis, 1; Catarrh, 1; Catarrhal Sore Throat, 1.
The average residence in hospital of these patients was 29 days.
The control of Diphtheria is, and is likely to continue, one of the
most difficult propositions until immunization of the young becomes
generally practised.
Before patients leave hospital it is required that six consecutive
swabs from them shall prove negative. Nevertheless it is no infrequent
experience to find that within a fortnight following discharge the bacillus
of diphtheria is found in throat or nose, so that admission to school cannot
be granted. Repeated weekly swabbings continue to reveal the presence
of these organisms, which prove fatal to the guinea-pig when the
virulence test is applied.
Your Medical Officer of Health does not suggest that a longer stay
in hospital would add anything to the safety of the public.
The report on Diphtheria of the Ministry of Health, 1921, states
p.5 (a):—"Notifiable Diphtheria.—The notification of cases of diphtheria
under the Infectious Diseases (Notification) Acts should be limited to
persons actually suffering from Diphtheria, i.e., those exhibiting clinical
signs of the disease, with or without bacteriological evidence of the presence