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68
The cases were distributed in the following Wards as
follows:—East 27, North 37, North-West 40, South 18, SouthEast
11, and South-West 26. It will be seen therefore that
the cases were fairly evenly scattered over the borough, but
the disease showed a tendency to increase in August and
December; in the latter month 23 cases were notified.
It will be seen on the age table that the largest number
of attacks occurred between the ages 1-15.
When the patient is treated at home no other child from
the same house is allowed to attend school while the patient
is infectious, nor for two weeks afterwards.
Contacts.
The examination of the throats of diphtheria contacts
whenever practicable, by bacteriological means is a most
important aid to precautionary measures against the spread of
diphtheria. Should a positive result be obtained in the case
of children showing no evidence of diphtheria the presence of
some measure of infection is assumed, and much valuable light
on the origin of outbreaks is obtained. Your Medical Officer
takes swabs of all contacts or suspicious cases whenever they
come to his notice.
Last year your Committee had under consideration the
provision of diphtheria anti-toxin for the use of medical men,
including Poor Law Medical Officers in cases of diphtheria,
and it was decided that practitioners in the borough might
obtain from the Public Health Department anti-toxin sufficient
for their purposes upon sending a written order stating the
name, age, and address of the patient, together with the doctor's
name, and stating that it is to be used for a poor inhabitant of
the borough.