View report page

51
The improved results in the cases treated during the
year 1895, indicated by the statistics and the clinical observations, are thus summarised:—(1) A great reduction in the
mortality of cases brought under treatment on the first and
second day of illness. (2) The lowering of the combined
general mortality to a point below that of any former year.
(3) The still more remarkable reduction in the mortality of
the laryngeal cases. (4) The uniform improvement in the
results of tracheotomy at each separate hospital. (5) The
beneficial effect produced on the clinical course of the
disease.
The conclusion arrived at by the reporters, based on the
statistics and the clinical observations, is distinctly in favour
of "the value of antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria,"
especially in cases brought under the influence of the remedy
not later than the second day of disease "From this time
onwards, the chance of a successful issue will diminish in proportion to the length of time which has elapsed before the
treatment is commenced." Regarding the secondary effects,
which not infrequently arise, as a direct result of the injection
of antitoxin, and the greater incidence of normal complications
following thereupon, the Medical Superintendents of the
hospitals have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that
"these drawbacks are insignificant, when taken in conjunction
with the lessened fatality which has been associated with the
use of this remedy." Their final remark is that "in antitoxic
serum we possess a remedy of distinctly greater value in the
treatment of diphtheria than any other with which we are
acquainted."
It has been impossible, within the compass of this report,
to do more than briefly refer to the tables which summarise
the results of the antitoxin treatment for all of the hospitals
combined. But valuable lessons are to be learned from the
tables which relate to the several hospitals separately. Thus,
D 2