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18
Infectious Diseases
There were no serious outbreaks of infectious disease during
the year. There were, however, increases in the notification of
cases of dysentery, measles and whooping cough but there
were no deaths from these diseases.
Dysentery was troublesome in the fact that it caused a large
number of cases amongst school children, about a third in all;
and in many instances the children infected other children
and people in their own homes.
There is no doubt that dysentery is a disease which could be
eradicated by careful personal hygiene, and some measures
should be taken in the schools to see that children—particularly
the Infants' Department—attend to personal hygiene after
visiting the lavatories. In the home, mothers should pay
particular attention to hand washing after attending a child
suffering from diarrhœa, and before undertaking the preparation
of food.
Apart from these remarks there is little requiring any comment
regarding infectious diseases.

PUERPERAL PYREXIA
There was again an increase in these notifications. Of the
46 cases, 29 were not Southwark residents; 43 developed the
infection in hospitals subsequent to admission for confinement;
the remaining three cases were in home confinements.