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82
The cases were distributed in the following Wards as
follows:—East 30, North 49, North-West 41, South 17, SouthEast
15, and South-West 20. It will be seen therefore that
the cases were fairly evenly scattered over the borough, and
throughout the year with a slight increase in November.
It will be seen on the age table that the largest number
of attacks occurred between the ages 5—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.
The Council now provide diphtheria anti-toxin for the
use of medical men, including Poor Law Medical Officers.
Practitioners in the borough may 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. If the patient is able to pay, we find the medical
man quite willing to pay us the actual cost of the anti-toxin
which he obtains for the patient.