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101
Special attention is paid to children who develop a discharge
from the nose after their return home, to children with adenoids,
and to children with sores on their lips or faces.
Thirty-one such cases were kept under the supervision of the
Medical Officer for periods varying from one to three months
before they were certified as being free from infection and fit to
resume school attendance.
The cases examined after their return home from fever
hospitals had the following complications : enlarged neck glands
22, general weakness of limbs 15, discharge from nose 11, sores
on lips, face, mouth, or nostrils 11, conjunctivitis 9, discharge
from ears 6, peeling on hands or feet 4, sore throat 4, shortness
of breath 4, and sores on ears 2 cases.
DIPHTHERIA.
The number of cases notified was 175, of which 16 were
subsequently sent home as not suffering from the disease, leaving
159 true cases.
There were 17 deaths, so that 11 per cent, of all patients died.
The number of cases is 33 more than it was last year.
Sixty were between 1 and 5 years, 68 were between 5 and 15
years, compared with 58 and 41 in 1910.
The cases treated in the fever hospitals of the Metropolitan
Asylums Board were 131, with 9 deaths, that is 6-8 per cent.
Nine cases were treated at home with 1 death. Nineteen cases
were treated in general hospitals with 7 deaths—or 37 per cent,
of the whole number.
The cause of the excessive fatality amongst diphtheria patients
treated in general hospitals was discussed at length in last year's
report.