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28
DIPHTHERIA.
The 37 cases of Diphtheria occurred in 31 houses, several of which
were more or less insanitary. The sanitary defects were grave in
5 and slight in several other instances.
School attendance is either alleged by the parents or surmised
by myself, on good grounds, to be the cause of 3 attacks during the
year.
One case of the infection was imported into the Borough. In
several cases it was very clear that a preceding tonsilitis of several weeks
duration predisposed to an attack of Diphtheria. In 3 cases the attack
was preceded by "sore-throat" in other members of the family. In
several cases there was a history of previous throat trouble frequently
recurring.
In many of the cases I was unable to trace the origin of the disease
in any satisfactory manner; that is to say, after carefully ascertaining
all the facts, the origin of the infection could only be conjectured, and
it was impossible to do more.
Each year adds to the testimony of the efficacy of Antitoxin in this
disease, and many applications have been made at the office for tubes
which I store for the convenience of local practitioners.
When a case of Diphtheria occurs in a house where there are young
children, resort should be had to Antitoxin as a Prophylactic, and
all children that have been exposed to the disease should be given
small doses of the remedy.
In this disease the spread of the infection (and by consequence the
mortality) are largely due to the unfortunate circumstance that the
early diagnosis of the disease from clinical symptoms is frequently difficult
and impossible, and bacteriology alone can solve the difficulty in many
cases. The diagnosis outfits provided by the Council during the year to
the medical practitioners in Stoke Newington continue to be much
appreciated. Every practitioner has been kept supplied with such an
outfit, and has thus had at his disposal the means of procuring a,
bacteriological diagnosis of both Diphtheria and Typhoid Fever.