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from Mr. Worsley's premises, and during office hours from the Town Hall. When the Town Hall
is closed, applications for anti-toxin can be made to Mr. Sutton, an Officer of the Department,
who lives at No. 1, Hornton Place, Hornton Street (only a few yards from the Town Hall).
The Council loan syringes with portable sterilizers to doctors for the purpose of administering
the anti-toxin. Medical men administering the Council's anti-toxin to poor persons are, on
application to the Medical Officer of Health, paid a fee of 5s. per patient treated.
In 1925, the Borough Council supplied 295,500 units of anti-toxin for 59 patients at a cost of
£23 13s. 2d.
The Council have intimated to medical men in the Borough that they are prepared to provide
apparatus and materials for the application of the Schick Test in institutions, schools, boardinghouses,
etc. but throughout the year no requests were received for this form of assistance.
Home disinfection and school exclusion are carried out as in cases of scarlet fever.
Enteric Fever.—Twenty-nine cases of this disease were notified, 11 being removed to
hospital and one to a nursing home. The cases notified in the three preceding years were 18, 12
and 29. There were three deaths from this cause against 2, 2 and 3 in the preceding years.
Four of the notified cases were afterwards certified not to be suffering from enteric fever or
any other notifiable disease.
In two cases the diagnosis was doubtful and as the bacteriological and seriological tests were
negative, it is probable that the disease was not enteric fever. Of the remaining 23 cases, 16 were
notified from the southern division of the Borough. This heavier incidence in South Kensington is
not usual with other infectious diseases, and it is probably accounted for by the facts that water
supplies and sanitary arrangements in London generally are very good and that most persons
contracting typhoid fever are infected outside the Metropolis. It will be admitted that the residents
in the southern portion of the Borough leave the London area more frequently than those in the
north, and, consequently, are more exposed to infection by reason of the fact that many outside
London districts do not enjoy the same sanitary efficiency.
In five cases there was evidence that the disease had been contracted abroad and in a number
of the others the patients had paid visits to country places just prior to the date of attack.
Seven of the cases were notified as paratyphoid fever.
A study of enteric fever over the last 40 years reveals the fact that the disease is gradually
disappearing from this country. A steady decrease in the number of cases notified has taken place
during the period in which the water carriage system of sewage disposal has been installed throughout
the country.
Erysipelas.—Fifty-three cases were notified during the year, 23 of which were removed to
hospital. There were 5 deaths from this cause, the deaths in the three preceding years being 5,
4 and 1.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum.—This disease, which is an inflammation of the eyes of newlyborn
infants, is in most cases due to the entrance of gonorrhœal infection into the eyes during the
process of birth. It, however, sometimes results from the entrance of other forms of disease
germs at the time of birth, and infection may also occur at any time afterwards if disease bacteria
are brought into contact with the child's eyes by the unclean fingers of the mother or nurse. In
neglected cases ulcers may form on the outer membrane of the eye, and partial or complete loss of
vision may result In view of the serious consequences of neglect in treatment, ophthalmia
neonatorum was made compulsorily notifiable in 1914.
The Women Health Officers take great pains to obtain the best possible treatment. Every
case is visited on the day that notification is received in the Public Health Department and visits
are paid daily, if necessary, until the child is cured. Attempts are made to secure the child's and
mother's admission to hospital and, if these are unsuccessful, arrangements are made for a nurse
from the Kensington District Nursing Association, who has been trained in ophthalmia treatment,
to visit the home as frequently as is necessary to carry out the nursing instructions of the medical
attendant. Care is taken that a medical man is in attendance on every case.
It is the duty of midwives to report all forms of inflammation of the eye, even when the
condition is not ophthalmia neonatorum, and these cases, in addition to pure ophthalmia cases,
are dealt with by the Kensington District Nursing Association. In 1925, the ophthalmia neonatorum
and inflammation of the eye cases attended by the nurses numbered 38 and the number
of home visits paid in connection with these cases was 477. These visits average 12 to each of
the 38 patients, and indicate the great amount of trouble taken with this disease. The visits paid
by the Council's Women Health Officers are not included in the 477.