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62
It will be noticed that defective drains were only found in 7
houses, and shows what slight ground there is for the popular
association of diphtheria with defective drainage.
Source—The source was in 15 cases due to previous cases in
the same house, or in its immediate vicinity, in 12 other cases
due to members of the same family suffering with the disease.
School infection was responsible in 3 instances. Two persons
contracted the disease by going to convivial meetings at the
beginning of the year. Three occurred in the Remand Home and
2 in a day nursery.
In two instances there was reason to believe that diphtheria
was caught from another patient while visiting a general hospital
and in one instance a cat was the presumed source.
A few were presumably due to premature discharge from the
Fever Hospitals. In one household a young child recently discharged
had sore throat a day or two after his arrival home—
soon after 3 other children in the same family had diphtheria—
the original returned case was now seen by the Medical Officer
of Health and found to have diphtheria and sent back to the
Fever Hospital for the second time.
Cases discharged for home—All these are examined most
carefully shortly after their arrival home from the fever hospitals
and a record kept of their condition, and, if necessary, preventive
measures are taken.

There were 5 return cases.
Throat swabs are examined gratuitously by the Public Health
Department; 98 were submitted in 1909, and in 25 specimens
the diphtheria bacillus was found present.