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Immunisation (Schick Testing).
In eleven cases a positive Schick test was obtained in children
who had received the usual three injections. Two of these were
referred to the Medical Practitioner concerned, and the remainder
were given a fourth injection. Three further children who had been
immunised in another Borough were referred to the Schick Clinic and
found to be positive. They were also given a further injection.
Six nurses in a Day Nursery were Schick tested, and four were
found to be susceptible to diphtheria. They were immunised by the
Medical Officer.
The value of anti-diphtheria injections is well demonstrated by the
following case.
A child of 5 years was given three injections at weekly intervals,
the final dose being administered on the 24th of November.
He was notified as suffering from faucial diphtheria on the 12th
of December, having been ill for about 5 days previously, and was
admitted to hospital. The Medical Superintendent reports that the
case was of a very mild nature; the disease was distinctly modified
by the injections, and the child would have recovered, possibly without
complications, without having received anti-toxin serum.
Immunity is not established for at least six weeks after the last
injection, and in this case exposure to diphtheria infection took place
within a week of the final inoculation; nevertheless, what would
probably have been a severe illness was transformed into a very mild
attack, in which the symptoms were slight and short-lived.
Diphtheria Anti-Toxin (London) Order, 1910.
In accordance with this Order the Borough Council supply antitoxin
free to medical practitioners for use for the poorer inhabitants
of the Borough.
Dysentery.
Ten cases of Dysentery were notified, as compared with three
during 1936; there were no deaths. Two of the patients suffered
from the amoebic form of the disease, contracted in Hong Kong in
one instance, and in Egypt or Syria in the other.