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72
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
this family with him, and I found that the mother and three children
were suffering from a typical attack of Enteric Fever, and that a boy
of 14 also had the disease, but that he had been ill since the first
week in December, 1904. As the patients had no proper attendance
and as the father was a man in poor circumstances I advised
immediate removal to hospital. The mother was so ill that she died
shortly after admission, but the four children recovered. On the 20th
February the father was notified and removed to hospital where he
also died. On the 18th February a niece of the last patient was also
notified and on the 23rd another niece was also notified. These
two patients had been residing at the uncle's house when the first case
occurred, and were also infected by him. Both these cases recovered.
The original case was a boy of 14 and it was impossible to
ascertain where this patient contracted the disease. It was suspected,
however, that the infection was due to shellfish as he has been in the
habit of going with costers who occasionally sold mussels and winkles.
This case was originally diagnosed as Influenza, but owing to the
poverty of the parents the medical attendant only saw the case a few
times, and it was not until the parish doctor was called in when the
other members of the family had been infected that the true nature of
the complaint was discovered.
Six other casts were infected by previous cases and all recovered
Two of these cases occurred in one household.
In every case the drains of the houses were tested, but only in
five was any result obtained from the test. In three other cases slight
sanitary defects were noted, but in all the others the sanitary conditions
were satisfactory.
Cases of Mistaken Diagnosis.
During the year information was received from the Metropolitan
Asylums Board's Hospitals that the patients removed to hospital were
not suffering from the disease notified or any other notifiable disease
in 97 cases, compared with 94 in 1904, and 106 in 1903.
Of the 1,861 cases of Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Enteric Fever
removed to hospital the diagnosis in 97, or 5.2 per cent. was incorrect.
In 1904 this percentage was 10, and in 1903 9.5.