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1929
45
The disease which is prevalent in the East End of London
is of an extremely mild type, and its very mildness defeats all
efforts to limit its spread. The four cases which occurred here in
1928, belonged to the mild category, but no cases of this type
occurred in 1929.
ISOLATION HOSPITAL.
During the year 419 cases were admitted into the Hospital
compared with 400 in 1928. On January 1st, 1929, there were
48 cases in the Hospital and on January 1st, 1930, 75. 390 were
discharged and there were 5 deaths.
The following is a list of the cases admitted :—
Acton Wembley Kingsbury Total
Scarlet Fever 203 102 9 314
Diphtheria 42 50 11 103
Measles — 2 — 2
245 154 20 419
Scarlet Fever.
314 cases of Scarlet Fever were admitted and there were
two deaths. The circumstances in which one of the deaths occurred
are referred to in another paragraph.
One of the most important advances in the treatment of
Scarlet Fever has been the introduction of the Scarlet Fever Antitoxin.
The specific serum has now come into general use for the
treatment of the toxaemia met with early in the disease, but some
difference in the practice of administration exists. We have not
used it in every case which was admitted into the Hospital last
year, but only in those cases where temperature was fairly high,
or the pulse abnormally rapid on admission, but we have regretted
sometimes that it was not used in the mild cases. In several
cases, the early use of the serum is of the utmost importance,
and almost invariable, there is a dramatic drop in the temperature
and the pulse rate within twenty-four hours. In the mild cases,
in which the serum is not given, very frequently the temperature
will not settle for many days, and it is these cases that one regrets
the serum was not given early. There is a concensus of opinion
that the best results from the serum are obtained when it is given
early.
One aspect which has not been settled is the effect of the
serum upon the septic complications of the disease, and this aspect
is important from the view point of administration.
Some medical superintendents claim that administration
early in the disease decreases the chances of septic complications,