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63
contacts at the hostel, both residents and staff, were examined
and kept under observation. No further cases occurred.
puerperal pyrexia
During 1955, the number of cases of this disease notified
was one hundred and twenty-five, of whom eighty-four were persons
normally resident outside the borough. Four of the cases
occurred after home-confinements (two of these patients were
subsequently moved to hospitals outside the borough for treatment),
one case occurred in a private nursing home and the remaining
one hundred and twenty cases occurred in a Kensington hospital
with a maternity department.
The increase of notifications (see table for previous years
on page 68) and the preponderance of these in a single hospital
might give cause for some alarm, but the following table showing
the analysis of the causes of these cases of puerperal pyrexia
(i.e. any febrile condition occurring in a woman in-whom a
temperature of 100.4°F. or more has occurred within fourteen
days after childbirth or miscarriage) brings the problem into
perspective.
Cause No. of cases
Flushed breast, breast abscess, mastitis 23
Respiratory infections:-
Coryza 6
Bronchitis 1
Pneumonia 1
Upper respiratory infection 1 9
Urinary infection
(4 of which were associated with other
causes as follows:- 1 mumps, 1 anaemia,
1 forceps delivery, 1 head cold) 47
Pyelitis 1
Phlebitis 1
Dermatitis 1
Operations:-
Post-operative 1
Caesarean section 4
(including 1 stitch abscess)
Twisted ovarian tumour 1 6
Uterine infection (including 1 case
associated with anaemia) 7
Cause unknown after investigation 17
Not stated 12
Information was received in the public health department
concerning fifty-one patients normally resident in Kensington,
who were notified as suffering from puerperal pyrexia in other
London districts.
No deaths occurred under this heading.
Pneumonia
There are various forms of pneumonia, but the only types
notifiable are (i) acute primary and (ii) acute influenzal
pneumonias. During the year, one hundred and five notifications
were received, seventy-six being acute primary pneumonia and
twenty-nine being acute influenzal pneumonia. Of the total,
thirty-six cases were removed to hospital for treatment.
The number of deaths from pneumonia (all forms) was one
hundred and two and the number of deaths from influenza was six
during 1955.