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possible moment. The prompt administration of
anti-toxin before the patient is removed to hospital
may, especially if delay in removal is inevitable, go
far towards preventing the attack of diphtheria
from being fatal.
The injection should be made directly the
clinical symptoms of diphtheria are apparent, and
without waiting for the result of a Bacteriological
examination of swabs from the throat.
In the event of your requiring to administer
anti-toxin, application for a supply should be made
at this Office by messenger between the hours of
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. All applications must state the
name and address of the patient and the number of
units required, (the stock being held in tubes of
2,000 units each), and be signed by a registered
medical practitioner.
Yours faithfully,
GEORGE PADDOCK BATE, M.D.
Medical Officer of Health.
The serum proved most useful in an epidemic of
diphtheria at the Children's Home, Bonner Road.
The Medical Officer to the Institution remarks in his
report; "I have no hesitation in stating that the antitoxin
injection proved of great value in treating the
disease in the patients attacked; in fact, no case m
which I used the anti-toxin has been fatal."