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104
ENCEPHALITIS LETHARGICA.
One case was notified during the year.
In 1933 there were 16 old St. Pancras cases receiving special Institutional treatment.
Two of these were discharged, but moved to addresses outside the Borough. One returned to
St. Pancras and is reported to be maintaining a good recovery. The other 13, and the new
case, are now under treatment, mainly at Winchmore Hill. The majority are reported to be
progressing very slowly.
PNEUMONIA.
This disease is a frequent complication of other diseases, such as Measles. When it
occurs in that manner it is not notifiable.
The notifiable forms of Pneumonia are Acute Primary and Acute Influenzal Pneumonia.
There were 300 notifications of the former and 55 of the latter during 1934 (as compared
with 211 and 111 respectively for 1933). There were 212 deaths from all forms of Pneumonia
during the year.
If requested by the medical attendant, a visiting nurse is supplied in necessitous cases
at the cost of the Borough Council. In 1934, 41 cases were nursed under this arrangement
and 1,105 nursing visits were paid.
MALARIA.
29 cases were notified. They were all old cases in which the disease had been
contracted abroad. Only three of the cases really belonged to St. Pancras. Under the
regulations issued by the Ministry of Health, cases of Malaria diagnosed in the Borough,
no matter where the home address of the patient, are notified to this Authority. In this way
the number of notifications for this disease depends largely upon the number of malaria patients
diagnosed at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Endsleigh Gardens.
DYSENTERY.
30 cases were notified during the year, and on investigation it was shown that 27 of
them did not really belong to St. Pancras. The same rule for the notification of Malaria (as
described above) applies to Dysentery.
There were three St. Pancras cases, all young children, who contracted the Sonne type
of Dysentery. They all recovered.
FOOD POISONING.
Cases of Food Poisoning were made notifiable by Section 7 of the London County Council
(General Powers) Act, 1932, which came into force on July 12th of that year.
No exact definition of food poisoning was given in the Act and some difficulty may be
experienced in framing a satisfactory definition.
In a number of the patients notified it would appear from the information obtained that
the cases should really have been regarded as suffering from Acute Indigestion, etc., and not
from actual food poisoning.
22 notifications were received during the year.