View report page

68
It would be unwise, of course, to conclude that, because comparatively
few cases immediately end fatally, Scarlet Fever is little
menace to the child population. Complications may follow the mildest
cases and, in the interests of the patient and of other children in the
home, isolation in hospital is as necessary to-day as hitherto. In order
that certain cases of measles might be treated in hospital, some
restriction upon the admission of cases of Scarlet Fever was inevitable.
Fortunately, as practically every case in Deptford requires hospital
isolation, little delay occurred in their admission. So far as is practicable
all cases, after discharge from hospital, are kept under surveillance
by the Health Visitors. Even where such children present no clinical
signs, instances occur where they retain the power of infecting others.

It will be noted that there has been a steady reduction in the
mortality from Diphtheria, although the incidence as judged by notifications
received has increased very materially. In large measure this
increased incidence is more apparent than real owing to the extent to
which bacteriological tests ate now used upon which to found a
diagnosis of Diphtheria.
During the year, " Swabbing" by the Public Health Department
was abandoned, except in special cases, e.g., as an assistance in
diagnosis of cases showing indefinite clinical symptoms or as a matter
of individual convenience to expedite return to work where a " negative "
swab is prescribed by the employer as a necessary precedent to re-admission
to work.
The perfunctory taking of a swab leads, in itself, to no definite
results, for experience shows that a ' positive " swab may be only a
transient phenomenon, while, even in expert hands a negative swab