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Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis.
Three cases of this disease were notified.
In the first case the patient recovered completely, in the next
the patient died in hospital and the last removed out of the borough
and we have been unable to obtain any further information.
The following paragraph printed in last year's annual report
represents my views at present.
Most of the cases diagnosed under this heading in London are
cases of meningitis occurring in children and have been long known
as " post-basic meningitis "or " Still's disease." They have always
been with us, but as they are caused by a micro-organism which
resembles that causing the disease known as cerebro-spinal fever,
which occurs in outbreaks, it was thought advisable by the London
County Council to include them under the term " cerebro-spinal
fever." Dr. T. Houston, of Belfast, who has had an opportunity of
investing a large outbreak which occurred there in 1911 and 1912,
is of opinion that the micro-organisms of the two diseases, although
belonging to the same group, are fundamentally different and give
rise to different diseases, and with this view, on present evidence
I am inclined to agree.
The cases notified in Bermondsey gave rise to no other cases,
but disinfection and isolation were carried out.
Acute Polio-Myelitis.
Three cases of this disease were notified during the year under
report. The disease is commonly known as infantile paralysis and
is a very common cause of deformities of the arms or legs seen in
adults. It frequently takes the form of an arm or leg ceasing to
grow and on enquiry one finds it came on in childhood. The disease
is an infection of parts of the interior of the spinal cord and exists
in two forms, viz. : sporadic when odd cases occur about a district
and do not spread and epidemic form when several cases occur
together and seem to be connected with one another. The above
three cases may be described as sporadic.
It is not so fatal as cerebro-spinal meningitis, but it is more
liable to leave paralytic conditions behind. All three cases recovered
but there was some paralysis of the limbs left. The cases have
been kept under observation but show no signs of spreading. The
organism causing the disease is not known.