View report page

the work of our already overburdened Public Health
Inspectors, without appearing in any way to have
resulted in an increased number of cases in our schools.
It is also interesting to note that the hygienic
precautions to which I referred when dealing with the
spread of poliomyelitis in schools, apply equally to the
spread of dysentery and that newer bug-bear, winter
vomiting. All our schools are immediately visited as
soon as we receive information that several cases of
dysentery or winter vomiting have occurred. In this
connection, I would take this opportunity of thanking
our head teachers for their prompt, invaluable co-operation.
We are in this way enabled to take immediate action.
In the spread of infectious diseases immediate action may
save endless trouble at a later date. In the control
of infectious disease this fact is especially obvious in
the case of intestinal infections.
Puerperal Pyrexia.
No case of puerperal pyrexia was notified during
the year.
It is not so long ago since each case of puerperal
pyrexia was regarded as a potentially serious event.
Indeed, the death rate from puerperal causes was tragically
high within my own recollection. Nowadays, puerperal
pyrexia seldom has a septic background, being ascribed
merely to some intercurrent cause such as influenza, head
cold or even constipation. This is an indication of
the revolutionary change which has taken place within the
last decade in the care of mothers during and after
pregnancy. Several factors have contributed to this
happy state, great advances in midwifery, closer supervision
and liaison between general practitioner, hospital
and clinic, and the introduction of antibiotics.
Puerperal sepsis, as against any rise in temperature
during the puerperium, the officially designation of
"puerperal pyrexia" is seldom encountered. This explains
why the death of a mother during or after childbirth is
now regarded almost as a rarity.
« -26-