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102
8. Her mother states was in it on her arrival home from hospital
on the 10th.
In my opinion these facts point indisputably to the conclusion
that the infection was conveyed to the home by the discharged patient-
The relapse and the poulticing and spraying the throat, indicate
that throat complications arose, which was in all probability Diphtheria.
I am, however, of opinion, and this opinion is based on an experience
of twelve years, as physician to the Sunderland Fever Hospital, that no
matter what precautions have been taken by Matrons, Nurses, and the
Staff generally, that infection will be carried home occasionally by
patients.
I have known cases where children were discharged from Hospital
as clean as they ever were, or ever will be, in their lives, free apparently
from all possible sources of infection, and yet in a few days after arrival
home the disease from which they had suffered has appeared among
other members of the family.
I have long thought that in such cases the infection has been
conveyed by the mouth; that it lies therein attached to the teeth,
which it is almost impossible, especially in the case of young children,
to get thoroughly clean, and equally impossible to disinfect.
Consequently when brothers and sisters, or playfellows, meet and
kiss each other, or breathe into each others faces, the disease is
transmitted.
To a lesser extent, it is believed by some medical authorities, that
patients arriving newly at home, straight from the infected wards,
convey the infection in their lungs, in which some of the contaminated
hospital air still remains, and which when exhaled into the faces of
other persons, transmits the disease.
Beyond calling the attention of the Metropolitan Asylums Board
to this matter, the Public Health Committee felt they could do nothing.