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39
SCARLET FEVER.
Church Wards than in other parts of the Borough. The following records of the two houses in
which the largest number of cases (6 and 10) were recorded should be of interest. The second
instance must be a record.
I.—House with six cases.
House occupied by three families, containing 18 persons (8 of whom, in two families, were under 10
years of age).
H. Th., m., æt. 3 ; sickened 2 i. ; to hospital 3 i. ; discharged 19 iii.
R. Th., f., æt. 9; „ 24 iii. ; „ 26 iii. ; „ 7 viii.
A. Th., f., æt. 6; „ 6 iv.; „ 15 iv. ; „ 28 vi.
T. Th., f., æt. 1; „ 16 iv.; „ 16 iv. ; died 24 iv.
I.Tr., f., æt. 4 ; „ 2 xi. ; „ 6 xi.
A. Tr., m., æt. 5 ; „ 10 xi. ; „ 13 xi.
II.—House with ten cases.
House occupied by two families (one tenement empty), comprising 18 persons (of whom 10 were
under 10 years of age).
E. C., f., æt. 17 ; sickened 31 iii. ; to hospital 5 iv. ; discharged 19 v. ; to hospital 9 vi. ; discharged 16 vii.
M. C., f.. æt. 15; „ 21 v.; „ 23 v.; „ 16 vii.
H. D., m., æt. 13; „ 22 v. ; „ 23 v. ; „ 8 vii.
G. C., m., æt. 14; „ 29 v.; „ 5 vi.; „ 16 vii.
J. C., m., æt. 12 ; „ 6 vi.; „ 8 vi.; „ 29 vii.
D. D., f., æt. 2; „ 7 vi. ; „ 9 vi.; „ 19 ix.
D. C., m., æt. 4; „ 24 ix. ; „ 26 ix. ; „ 13 xi.
B. C., f., æt. 8; „ 24 ix. ; „ 26 ix. ; „ 4 xi.
C. C., f., æt. 11 ; „ 3 xi. ; „ 7 xi.
D. C., f., æt. 6 ; „ 10 xi. ; „ 14 xi.
In the first group of cases the three secondary cases in the Th. family appeared to have been
due to the return home of the first patient. The cases in the Tr. family were thought to be
quite independent of the earlier outbreak. The second family was not in the house in the
earlier part of year.
In the second group the first patient was brought to the Town Hall on June 6th and
examined by the Medical Officer of Health. The girl was pale and there was a history of a
"continuous cold" since her return from hospital. There was nasal discharge, the throat was
congested, the tonsils enlarged, with a considerable quantity of mucus accumulated at the back
of the throat. The medical practitioner was informed of the facts, and it was agreed that the
girl should be returned to hospital. It is noteworthy that she was detained there until
July 16th.
The girl just mentioned was not the only patient returned to hospital after discharge. In
another family a girl aged 9 was sent to hospital on February 2nd, and was discharged on
April 2nd. Two other members of her family sickened with the disease on April 21st and 30th.
The mother brought the first patient to the Town Hall on May 16th, when she was examined
for the second time (she had been examined on April 29th) by the Medical Officer of Health.
The following is the material part of a letter addressed to the medical practitioner in charge of
the family.
The only abnormalities which I found on April 29th were the state of the nostrils (excoriations in
both, with a watery discharge) and the throat (some congestion, but no tonsillar enlargement). There was
some enlargement of the submaxillary glands on both sides, but that did not appear to me to be important.
I took swabs from the nose and throat, and the report of the Bacteriologist showed that an organism
resembling the micrococcus catarrhalis was found in the nose, and organisms resembling pneumococci in
the throat. Since I saw R. on the 29th her brother H. has been sent away with scarlet fever. R. has been
associating with a family S., one of whom, a girl C., was removed with scarlet fever on the 13th of this month
(May). A second child in that family is ill and under observation, scarlet fever being suspected.
The girl R. was returned to hospital on May 19th, and detained there until July 30th.
The following is another interesting instance of a return case :—
—. P., living in Battersea, was taken ill with scarlet fever at Great Yarmouth, and admitted to hospital
there. He returned to Battersea on September 11th, and his sister sickened with the disease on the 19th.
She was sent to hospital, from which she was discharged on October 27th. E. P., residing in Paddington
sickened with scarlet fever on November 10th. She visited the P. family at Battersea on the previous day.
The Battersea girl had been in attendance at school for some days, apparently without giving rise to any
infection in school.