View report page

41
During the year considerable difficulty was occasioned
in connection with this disease by reason of the insidious
nature of the complaint, as it was found to be affecting certain
children in attendance at school. This was particularly
marked in connection with Invicta Road School, where,
although special examinations with bacteriological investigation
of suspected children was made on several occasions,
yet the outbreak was not stayed, and it was found that a
number of children were suffering from Diphtheria affecting
the nasal passages, giving no definite clinical perceptible
evidence other than more or less clear nasal discharge.
Bacteriological examination of specimens taken from the
nose were found in many cases to contain the specific
organism, and it was only after strict exclusion from School
of all such children, which at that period amounted to a
considerable number, that the outbreak was definitely
stopped.
Considerable difficulty was found at times in persuading
parents of such children that they were not only needing
medical treatment, but that they were in an actively infectious
condition, for when the only symptom evident was what
appeared to be a cold in the head with slight nasal discharge,
it required all one's powers of persuasion to obtain the
necessary treatment.
Erysipelas. One hundred and twenty-two cases were
notified during the year, 38 being in East Greenwich, 42 in
West Greenwich, 35 in St. Nicholas, and 7 in Charlton.
Nineteen of these patients were removed to Public Institutions
in the District.
Scarlet Fever. Three hundred and four cases were
notified during the year, as compared with 170, 390 and 423
cases respectively, in the three preceding years; 111 cases
were in East Greenwich, 113 in West Greenwich, 16 in St.