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57
Under their agreement with the Council, the Kensington District Nursing Association have
rendered valuable help in connection with cases of pneumonia.
Malaria.—Two cases of this disease were notified, and investigation revealed that the
patients had been soldiers who had contracted the disease whilst abroad during the Great War.
Encephalitis Lethargica.—This disease, commonly known as "sleepy sickness," was
prevalent throughout the country in the year 1924, the number of cases notified in that year in
England and Wales being 5,063, in London 620, and in Kensington 21. During the year 1925, the
number of cases diminished considerably, the figures for England and Wales being 2,670, for London
302, and for Kensington 15. Two of the 15 cases notified were found after admission not to be
suffering from encephalitis lethargica or any other notifiable disease, and one case was proved
after death to have suffered from tubercular meningitis; thus, the number of Kensington cases was
reduced to 12.
The above table shows that there were five deaths out of twelve cases, giving a case mortality
of 41.6 per cent.
There is good reason to believe that encephalitis lethargica is infectious and, therefore, the
disease has been made notifiable; but the degree of infectivity must be very slight, and other
occupants of a house in which a case has occurred, or is being treated, may be assured that very
little risk is run by living in the same dwelling. At the same time it is desirable that association
with an infected person should be limited to what is necessary for proper care and nursing, and the
patient should be well isolated in a separate room.
Multiple cases of the disease in the same household as well as multiple cases in institutions
have been observed in this country and elsewhere, but they are not frequent. The fact that in
Kensington there has been no evidence of spread of infection during the last five years shows that
the degree of infectivity must be low. Every case is carefully investigated with a view to
ascertaining whether there has been any contact with a known case of the disease, but no evidence
of this kind has so far accrued. Of the 13 cases notified in Kensington in 1925, there were not two
in one house and, indeed, every case was in a separate street.
Polio-Myelitis and Polio-Encephalitis.—These are diseases which attack the central
nervous system and may give rise to paralysis; in this respect they are comparable with cerebrospinal
meningitis and encephalitis lethargica. The diseases have long been known, under the
name of "infantile paralysis," as a form of paralysis of which sporadic cases occur, chiefly in
children and less frequently in adults. In recent years they have occurred in epidemic form, and
as they are undoubtedly infectious they have been made compulsorily notifiable. The degree of
infectivity, as in the case of encephalitis lethargica, is of a low order and it is only seldom that
association can be traced between the cases which are notified. One case in a household is rarely
followed by a second.
Although ten cases were notified in 1924, there was only one notification in 1925. The patient
was a male child of eighteen months and, since recovering from the acute stages of the illness, he
has been attending an orthopaedic hospital and the Raymede Massage Centre where he is making
satisfactory progress.