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new regulations requiring notification of puerperal
pyrexia, was to secure the earliest possible treatment
of patients suffering from puerperal fever.
The Council's arrangement with the Guardians is
now continued and amplified by the scheme under
the new Regulations. The Regulations, which require
the notification of cases of puerperal pyrexia and
puerperal fever, came into force on 1st October, 1926.
Twelve cases of puerperal pyrexia were notified from
October to the end of the year, and of these six were
admitted to the Fulham Hospital. Of the twelve
cases referred to two were notified subsequently as
puerperal fever.
The Public Health (Notification of Puerperal Fever
and Puerperal Pyrexia) Regulations, 1926.—The regulations
came into force on 1st October, 1926, and their
object is the prevention and control of puerperal sepsis.
Neither the number of notifications nor the deaths
from puerperal fever give an adequate idea of the
seriousness of the problem of puerperal sepsis. The
question of maternal mortality associated with pregnancy
and childbirth is referred to in Circular 517 of
the Ministry of Health, which states : " In the first
place, these women are for the most part young and
healthy, and their loss involves exceptional domestic
distress. Secondly, these deaths are indicative of an
immense burden of suffering and ill-health among
those women who are fortunate enough not to succumb
to causes which prove fatal to others. Such deaths
are necessarily associated with a large number of
infant deaths before, during or shortly after birth,
some at least of which might be prevented." More
illness in women results from septic conditions after
childbirth or miscarriage and gonorrhoea than from
all other pelvic diseases combined.
It is the duty of the Local Authority to give notice
to all medical practitioners resident or practising in
the Borough of the duties imposed upon them by the
regulations, and the following letter, along with a copy