View report page

It will be noted that the Health Visitor is to visit three
months after the date of notification. This period is, of course,
only approximate, and is varied according to circumstances. A
child is not normally discharged from hospital unless it is fit to
return home, and it appears reasonable to allow a short time to
elapse between the attack of illness and the examination, so that
sequelae may be distinguished from the actual ill-effects of the
disease itself. Although this scheme has only been in operation
for a short time, it appears likely to provide some very interesting
information, and at the same time achieve beneficial results so far
as the children themselves are concerned. It involves also a
very considerable increase of work for the Health Visitors and
for Mr. F.W. Smith, who has devised and is in charge of the
statistical and clerical side of this work.
DIPHTHERIA.
The number of cases of this disease notified to me during the
year was 207, and as 27 cases were returned from hospital as
"not suffering "from diphtheria the net total was 180. It is
twenty-seven years since the number of cases of diphtheria reached
so low a figure (1910), and as this disease has for many years been
a cause of anxiety both to the Medical Officer of Health and to
the Public Health Committee, the low figure this year is recorded
with gratitude.
For some considerable time now, I have made a practice of
informing the practitioner who notified the case to me, when
such a case was returned from hospital as "not suffering" from
the disease for which it was notified. I think it would be a
decided advantage if a definite diagnosis could be made at the
hospital and returned to me where this is possible, instead of the
rather vague and negative statement that the patient was found
to be "not suffering" from the disease notified.
There were eight deaths from diphtheria during the year, and
I would take this opportunity of impressing upon practitioners
the necessity for speed in the diagnosis and treatment of this
(21)