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79
Average Stay in Hospital of recovered cases of true Diphtheria
was 62.2 days, a decrease of 3.9 days compared with the
corresponding figure of 66.1 days for 1935, but 2.7 days more
than the average of 59.5 days over the six-year period 19301935
inclusive.
Type of Disease.
On the whole the type of disease was severe, allowing
for the fact that Diphtheria is always an alarming malady
on account of the uncertainty as to the issue in any particular
case.
The admission of severe cases in an advanced stage of the
illness and from whom antitoxin has been withheld, from one
cause or another, is one of the disappointments with which
fever hospitals have to contend, for fatal results which might
have been averted are too frequently the institution's contribution
to vital statistics.
The administration of antitoxin to any patient in whom a
clinical diagnosis of diphtheria is a possibility presents no
financial obstacle to donor or recipient, nor does it raise any
question of the propriety of administration before a confirmatory
bacteriological report is received.
Cases from other Hospitals.
An added responsibility is occasioned by the presence in
the area of a large General Hospital, namely, Redhill County
Hospital, which serves a much larger area than that of the
Borough, as any infectious case occurring at that Hospital,
or a missed diagnosis before admission, is sent to the Hendon
Isolation Hospital.
In addition, a considerable amount of work is entailed in
consultations for doubtful cases and last year, owing to
sporadic cases of Scarlet Fever occurring, an investigation was
carried out at the Redhill County Hospital in an effort to
segregate any of the nursing staff who might be carriers of
hemolytic streptococci,