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Hospital Accommodation for Infectious Diseases.
In December, 1937, a communication was received from the
London County Council stating that owing to the difficulty of
securing nurses for infectious diseases in the number necessary to
make full use of the accommodation provided in their hospitals,
and in order that such accommodation as was available could be
utilised to the greatest advantage, it was decided that until further
notice the admission of patients suffering from scarlet fever, measles,
whooping cough and dysentery to the Council's Hospitals should
be limited to those cases in which hospital treatment was in the
opinion of the Borough Medical Officer of Health required owing to
the severity of the illness and/or the home conditions, and in the
case of measles the age of the patient, having regard to the high
mortality from this disease of children under two years of age.
The terms of this communication were brought to the notice of
every private medical practitioner practising in the Borough.
Smallpox.
There were no cases of smallpox notified in the Borough during
1937, neither was the Medical Officer of Health requested to perform
any vaccinations under the Public Health (Smallpox Prevention)
Regulations, 1917.
Diphtheria.
During the year there were 346 cases of diphtheria notified and
every one of these patients was removed to an isolation hospital for
treatment. Forty-five cases were subsequently found not to be
suffering from the disease for which they Were admitted to hospital.
The attack rate per 1,000 population was 1.33. The return cases
numbered two. A "return case" is one which occurs in the same
household within 28 days of the discharge from hospital or release
from isolation of a patient certified to have recovered from the
disease.
The comparative figure of cases notified in 1936 was 278. The
fatal cases numbered 13 giving a fatality rate of 4.3 per cent, as
compared with 5.07 per cent, in 1936.
Facilities for early diagnosis.
The services of the Medical Officer of Health are placed at the
disposal of private medical practitioners in a consultative capacity
in doubtful cases.
Throat and nose swabs forwarded to the Council's Research
Laboratories, 134, Denmark Hill, S.E.5, are dealt with immediately
up to midnight including Saturdays and Sundays.