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1922 10
Exhibition at Wembley Park, and had been in this country about
a month. He came from Ireland, and the only relatives he had
in this country were two brothers. No information could be
obtained of the patient's movements before he came to this country.
Encephalitis Lethargica.—There was one notification and
one death, but they did not refer to the same person. The case
notified recovered; a death was reported from the disease, but
the patient had not been notified as suffering from the disease.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum.—Four cases were notified, and in
all instances the final result was satisfactory and vision was not
affected.
One of the cases was treated in St. Margaret's Hospital for
two periods. The baby was admitted in the first instance for
about a month, but within a short time of her return home, she
apparently got reinfected and she had to be re-admitted to the
Hospital.
Measles.—During the late Spring and early Summer, a minor
epidemic of Measles was experienced throughout the district.
Measles is not compulsorily notifiable at the present time,
but from the information derived from other sources, it appeared
that the disease was prevalent throughout the whole of the district,
and the cases were fairly uniformly distributed.
Nearly 600 cases were brought to the notice of the School
Medical Department, and probably very many more cases occurred.
The total number of deaths, though, was only 5, so that the disease
was of a very mild character.
It would be very pleasing if we could claim that these results
are due mainly to successful efforts to control epidemics or to
better methods of treatment, but candour compels us to admit
that such a conclusion would be unwarrantable.
In the Annual Report for 1920, I endeavoured to show that
under present social conditions, the majority of children contract
the disease, and the control of an epidemic is very ineffectual
after the second crop of cases have fallen.
There is a vast difference though, in the mortality of a winter
epidemic to that of a summer one. The latter is comparatively
a benign one. If isolated cases of Measles occur during the winter
months, almost every means is justifiable and every effort should
be made to postpone an epidemic until the summer.
It is probable that our efforts will only be successful to the
extent of postponing an epidemic for a few months, but frequently,