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81
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Inquiry into the return cases of Diphtheria revealed some
facts which were, from an administrative point of view, of
importance.
Cases 4, 5, 6, and 7, were all members of the same family
and were presumably infected by Case 5, which had been removed
to hospital on March 20th, suffering from Scarlet Fever, and discharged
on May 14th. The mother of this child, No. 4, was taken
ill on May 16th, with Diphtheria, followed by definite clinical
cases of Diphtheria in the case of other two members of the same
family, the first symptoms in these latter appearing about the
23rd. The return case was also removed to hospital on the 21st,
after a swab had been taken from the throat, in which a positive
result was obtained, showing that this case was a definite one of
Post Scarlatinal Diphtheria.
Cases 10 and xi were also cases of Post Scarlatinal Diphtheria,
No. 10 having been 11 days at home before definite
symptoms appeared, but No. 11 was ill when it returned home.
Nos. 12 to 17 were all members of the same family, and the
diagnosis was verified in all these cases by bacteriological
examination.
No. 15 was the case removed on February 12th, and returned
on March 26th. As it was suspected that this case was the cause
of the other eases, a swab was taken from his throat, and a positive
result was obtained. None of these six cases proved fatal.
Enteric Fever.
60 cases of Enteric Fever were notified during the year (14
from Clapham, five from Putney, 12 from Streatham, nine from
Tooting, and 20 from Wandsworth), compared with 70 in 1907, 96
in 1906, and 96 in 1905.
43 of the cases were removed to hospital where four died, and
17 were treated at home with three deaths.