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34
School attendance is either alleged by the parents or surmised
by myself, on good grounds, to be the cause of 2 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 11 cases there
was a history of previous throat trouble frequently recurring. In
2 cases the attack was preceded by "sore-throat" in other members of
the family.
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.
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 to the medical
practitioners in Stoke Newington continue to be much appreciated.
Every practitioner has been kept supplied during the year with such
an outfit, and has thus had at his disposal the means of procuring a
bacteriological diagnosis of Diphtheria, Enteric Fever and Consumption.