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67
of infection, and in the long run would be found more efficient
and, from the ratepayer's point of view, more economical, the
great reduction that would necessarily follow such action being
reflected in the decreased cost of maintenance of these cases, the
average detention of which in hospital amounts to a period of
six weeks.
A small outbreak of Scarlet Fever occurred amongst the
children attending the Royal Masonic Institute for girls, the infection
having probably been introduced from without. Only
seven cases altogether occurred during the year, the prompt measures
taken to prevent the spread of infection proving completely
successful.
Another small outbreak occurred amongst the children
attending a private school in the Borough, and the spread of the
disease was prevented by the closure of the school for three weeks,
on representations made by me to the Principal.
In several instances there was reason to suspect that cases
attending the out-patient departments of several hospitals outside
the district for other ailments were infected while waiting their
turn to be attended to. In times when epidemic disease is prevalent,
such an obvious channel of infection should not be overlooked.
In such cases I have drawn the attention of the hospital
authorities thereto.
So-called "return cases" were slightly more numerous during
1908 than in the two preceding years. It is, however, a difficult
matter to definitely associate the discharged patient as the source
of infection. In all such cases special enquiries were made (an
example being referred to earlier in this report), with results
which were more or less suggestive of the returned patient having
infected the new case. While in many of these cases there was
a strong presumption that this was so, it was impossible to
entirely exclude the possibility of school infection or personal
contact.
Milk as a factor in the spread of infection gave rise in not a
single instance to suspicion among the large number of cases
of Scarlet Fever notified in Battersea in 1908.
E 2