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27
Diphtheria.
This disease has during the year been very prevalent throughout
the Metropolis, and the faCt that its origin has not been
satisfactorily proved, makes it more difficult to deal with. We
are aware of many causes which are favourable to its spread,
not the least of which is the congregating of large bodies of
children in schools, and defective and badly-ventilated sewers
and drains. It is our duty to use every endeavour to prevent
its spread. In this district we had notified 190 cases under
five years of age, and 312 over five. In each instance enquiries
were made as to whether any children in the house were attending
school; if so, this was at once stopped until the patient
was well enough to allow disinfection to take place. The drainage
in each house, when considered necessary, was tested with
the smoke apparatus. During the past year 402 drains were
tested in this manner, and 112 found to be defective.
In my last annual report I spoke of the investigation that
was being carried out with the " Antitoxin treatment," in
London and elsewhere, which treatment briefly consists of the
inoculation of a specially-prepared serum into the system of
the patient. The results of this investigation in London, Paris,
and Berlin are as follows:—
An important report, signed by the medical superintendents
in the hospitals where the antitoxin treatment had been employed,
was presented to the Metropolitan Asylums Board
recently. The period covered by the Board extended from
January 1st, 1895, to December 31st of the same year. During
that time, with the exception of an interval of three months at
the Eastern Hospital, when its use was suspended; of periods
of four months at the Western and North-Western, of three
months at the Fountain, and to a considerable extent throughout
the year at the South-Eastern Hospital, when all cases
were consecutively treated, irrespective of their severit)—the
serum was administered only to cases which at the time of
admission were severe, or which threatened to become so. In
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