View report page

53
Throughout the year, scarlet fever was mild in type, as is reflected in the fact that there were
only three fatal cases. The deaths in the preceding years were one, three and one.
There were 41 instances where more than one case occurred in the same house.
Eight of the 478 definite cases of scarlet fever were patients in the same houses as persons
who had within the previous 28 days returned from hospital after having been treated for this
disease. Cases of this kind are called " return " cases, and a very careful investigation was made
in each of the eight, with a view to ascertaining the source of infection.
As a preventive measure, the Kensington borough council have agreed to provide material
for the Dick test for medical practitioners attending poor residents and local voluntary hospitals,
and during the year an expenditure of £3 16s. 0d. was incurred in respect of this service.
Diphtheria.—Four hundred and forty-four cases of diphtheria were notified during the year,
407 of which were removed to hospital.
Twenty-nine patients notified as suffering from diphtheria were found after admission to
hospital not to be suffering from any infectious disease at all, with the result that they were returned
home.
Although it cannot be said that a definite epidemic of diphtheria prevailed during the year,
the disease was throughout the twelve months more prevalent than in any other year since the
War. It showed the same distribution throughout the various parts of the borough as has been
noted in previous years and local circumstances could not be found to be responsible in any way
for this higher incidence in 1932.
The following table shows the number of cases notified in the various wards in each fourweekly
period during 1932 :—

Cases of mistaken diagnosis are excluded from the above table.
There were 26 instances where more than one case occurred in the same house.
The number of Kensington deaths was 29, representing a case mortality of 7 per cent. In
the three preceding years the deaths were 7, 13 and 11.
During the year, 1,992 throat swabs were examined at the council's laboratory at St. Mary
Abbots Hospital, and of these 177 gave a positive result.
There were no " return " cases reported during the year.
Thirteen cases of diphtheria were reported from St. Mary Abbots Hospital, 32 from St. Charles
Hospital, three from the Kensington Institution, and five from the Princess Louise Kensington
Hospital for Children.
Under the Anti-toxin Order, 1910, the council are empowered to supply diphtheria antitoxin
for administration to patients who are too poor to pay, and on signing the necessary
declaration that the patient cannot afford specific treatment, a medical man can obtain a free
supply from Mr. Evans, chemist, at No. 138, Ladbroke Grove, W.11, Mr. W. Reeves, chemist,
at No. 81, Cornwall Road, W.ll, or from the public health department at the Town Hall. The
anti-toxin is obtainable at all hours of the day and night from Mr. Evans' and Mr. Reeves'
premises, and during office hours from the Town Hall. When the Town Hall is closed, applications
for anti-toxin can be made to Mr. Britton, 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 1932 the borough council supplied 151,000 units of anti-toxin for 17 patients at a cost
of £11 18s. (6d.