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"There is no doubt that keeping children from school, for at least
one month after notification of any infectious disease, is the proper
course to pursue. It may, however, be premature to pass an opinion
as to whether such action, combined with the disinfection of premises
by spraying with a solution of formic aldehyde gas (burning sulphur
having been discontinued), has been the cause of diminishing the
number of infectious cases during the past year.
"On account of the impossibility of diagnosing diphtheria by the
naked eye examination, differences of opinion have occurred from
time to lime among the Practitioners of the district. This is not
only most unfortunate for the patients and their relatives but also
interferes materially with the carrying out of isolation. To quote
an instance which has occurred lately : a patient, aged 25 years, came
home ill from service to her mother in Bromley, and a Practitioner
called in and diagnosed the case as diphtheria. The patient was
seen also by his assistant, a qualified man, in the evening, who
agreed as to complaint. Next day the young woman resolved to go
to a hospital; the ambulance was sent for, and arrived at the door ;
but another medical man had been called in who pronounced the
disease as not diphtheria, although no bacteriological examination
had been made. Many instances can be quoted where medical men
differ, and also it must be known to the Committee that cases have
been sent in good faith to the Asylums Boards Hospitals, and returned
after some days certified as not having the disease, nor any other
infectious complaint.
"From the middle of July, i8q8 to the present time, eleven