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reception of the sick is provided within the District of a Local Authority, or
within a convenient distunes of such District, any parson who is suffering
from Malaria, or Dysentery, or Trench Fever, and is without proper lodging
or accommodation, or is lodged in a room occupied by more than one family,
or is on board any ship, vessel, or boat, or is lodged in any common lodging
house, or is in any place where such person cannot be effectively isolated so
as to prevent the spread of the disease, may, on a certificate signed by the
Medical Officer of Health, and with the consent of the superintending body
of such hospital or place, bo removed to such hospital or placc at the cost of
the Local Authority."
No special clause was inserted in the regulations to provide for
hospital treatment for London patients by a Central Body. It appeared
to me that for every Sanitary Authority in London to provide its own
hospital accommodation was a wasteful procedure and one not calculated
to prove the most efficient. I therefore communicated with the Clerk
of the Metropolitan Asylums Board on the subject of the Board
receiving suitable cases of these diseases that might occur in the
Borough into their hospitals. This, the Board agreed to do as a temporary
measure, pending an authoritative decision on the point; and on
29th April, 1919, the Local Government Board issued "The Metropolitan
Asylums (Trench Fever, Malaria and Dysentery) Order, 1919,"
empowering the Managers of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, on the
recommendation of the Medical Officer of Health, to admit persons
suffering from these diseases to their hospitals.
I shall be glad if medical practitioners will note that ex-soldiers
can be treated for Malaria, Dysentery, or any tropical disease, at the
extensive Clinic which has been opened by the Red Cross Society at
12a, Lyndhurst Road.
Cerebro Spinal Meningitis, Acute.
The only case that arose in 1919, occured in the person of a male,
aged 21, who was removed to hospital. The contacts were bacteriologically
examined with a negative result.
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup.
The number of cases notified in 1919 was 76, as compared with
109 in 1918. The attack rate, or number of cases notified per 1,000 of
the population was 0.86 compared with the rate of 1.52 in the previous
year.
The number of cases notified proving fatal was 7, or 9.2 per cent,
of the cases notified, as against 6.4 per cent. 1918. 63 patients, or 83
per cent, of the cases notified were removed to hospital.