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There were 8 instances during 1936 in which a secondary case occurred
in the same house as a primary case, and 2 in which a third case occurred.
As only one of the secondary cases occurred in a house where the primary
case was treated at home, and in this instance the infection was contracted
before the original case had been diagnosed, the policy of treating
cases of Scarlet Fever at home when the patient can be reasonably isolated
is further justified.
ERYSIPELAS.
There were 12 cases of Erysipelas notified as compared with 11, 23
and 17 in the last three years. Of these, 5 were patients in the Mental
Hospitals, the remaining 7 being unconnected cases scattered over
the District.
Three of the cases were removed to hospital, and one death occurred
in which this disease was the terminal condition.
PUERPERAL FEVER.
One case was notified and removed to Epsom Hospital, where she
subsequently died. This case is referred to in the section on Maternal
Mortality.
CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS.
One case of Cerebro-spinal Meningitis occurred in the early part
of the year in a child who was removed to the Isolation Hospital, where
unfortunately the disease proved fatal.
PNEUMONIA.
There were only 13 cases of Acute Primary or Influenzal Pneumonia
notified, as compared with 32, 30 and 28 cases in the last three years.
As, however, 6 of these cases occurred in one of the Mental Homes,
the number of cases notified in the remainder of the District was 7, as
compared with 14, 6 and 7 in the preceding three years.
No case was removed to hospital.
OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM.
There was only one case of this disease notified during the year
which proved to be streptococcal in origin. The child was removed
to hospital, and recovered without impairment of vision.
It will be seen by the Table at the beginning of this section that the
case-rates for Infectious Disease have remained low compared with
the country as a whole. As pointed out in previous Reports, it is difficult
to prevent these diseases in a District such as this, having very frequent
contact with London, Croydon, and the surrounding districts, especially
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