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39
Scarlet Fever.
found to be recovering from Scarlet Fever to find the
mothers so full of knowledge as to what the chilaren
have suffered from, a knowledge which was pitted
against mine in discussing the nature of the condition
and which was gleaned obtensibly from some "Family
Physician," a volume which was handed to me on two
occasions to see on what authority they relied. Here
we have a notable example of a "little knowledge being
a dangerous thing." It would be bette r not only for
the children, but for the general community if they
presumed less knowledge and trusted to the physician
in the flesh rather than in the volume. The fact must
never be lost sight of that even with a mild attack of
Scarlet Fever dangerous heart, kidney and ear disease
might result."
Of the 201 cases four cases occurred in one house,
three in one house and two in each of nine houses.
During the last quarter of the year, excepting subsequent
cases in the same house, little relationship could be found
between the cases. Four or five cases attending the
Lammas Infants' School and a similar number attending
the Drayton Infants' School appeared to have a common
origin, but the actual source of infection could not be
discovered.
The number treated in the Isolation Hospital was 153
or 76 per cent. The general rule with regard to the
discharge of patients from the hospital is that no case
is permitted to leave until nasal or ear discharge has
ceased and until all sores have healed and the enlargement
of the glands has subsided. In spite of every
care return cases occurred. These can be expected when
there is no bacteriological test available to determine,
as in diphtheria, freedom from infection. Sometime s a
patient discharged apparently perfectly well may