View report page

86
Diphtheria.—No serious outbreak occurred during the
whole year. There were 34 cases among children of school
age distributed fairly evenly over the district.
Two cases of Diphtheria were notified to me on November
24th. Upon investigation it was discovered that they both
attended the same school, and a visit to the school elicited the
fact that they were in the same class. I examined all the
children in the class, and took swabs from the throat and nose
of six. These six had all been absent from school for short
periods and had recently returned to school. Typical Diphtheria
Bacilli were found in one case. This child had been
away from school from the 6th to the 17th November suffering
with "a cold," and had no doubt on return infected the two
children mentioned above. The child in question was isolated
until free from infection and no further case occurred in the
school.
Arrangements for Exclusion of Individual Children
on Account of Infectious Disease.
Upon a report of the School Medical Officer the
Committee had this matter under consideration and
passed a resolution that where children had suffered from
Diphtheria they should not be re-admitted to school until
28 days after discharge from hospital or disinfection of their
homes, and not then unless Bacteriological evidence of
freedom from infection was forthcoming. This is, of course,
always carried out before a child is discharged from hospital,
and I am pleased to say that all the local doctors send swabs
for examination in those instances where the child has been
nursed at home. The arrangements for notifying the Teachers
was also simplified and the exclusion notices revised. The
following is a copy of a card that is given to all the schools:—