View report page

24
The following table, based on the thirteen four-weekly reports, sets out some particulars with
regard to diphtheria, in Kensington and in London:—

The following table gives particulars with respect to diphtheria in North and South
Kensington respectively.

Modes of Spread of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria.— I had occasion in the third
monthly report (March 28th, page 31) to advert to the spread of disease by ambulant cases of
scarlet fever and diphtheria, several cases having been imported from country places. I was
not in a position to prove wilful infraction of the law relating to the exposure in public places,
public vehicles, etc., of persons suffering from infectious disease, but the facts suggested a reprehensible
want of caution. The occurrence of feverishness, with sore throat, followed by a red
rash, should awake suspicion of scarlet fever; and such symptoms being present, medical advice
surely should be sought before permitting the sick person to travel. Again, when it is thought
desirable to remove a person from a house where diphtheria prevails, and particularly if the
person is unwell, medical advice should be obtained, and, if possible, a bacteriological examination
of the throat secretion made previously. Such cases as these occur, and notification is made
so quickly upon the patient's return to town, a doctor having been called in forthwith, as to
suggest that the disease must have already developed before the sick person's departure from the
infected house. One can understand the desire of an adult suffering from, or in apparent