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In addition one case of Acute Encephalitis was notified.
Scarlet Fever:
The incidence of this disease still remains comparatively
high but the numbers which it is found necessary to admit to
hospital are declining. There has, in my opinion, been a
modification in the severity of this disease over the last 20
years and complications such as nephritis, mastoid disease
and heart conditions have become much less common. This
doubtless can to some extent be attributed to the increased
potency of the therapeutic measures now at hand, namely,
the sulphonnamides and the antibiotics such as penicillin.
Nevertheless, these things apart, I am convinced that there
has been a steady decline in the severity of this disease so
much so that it is rare nowdays to see a really serious case
and when it is borne in mind that the original Isolation
Hospital Acts had as their main concern the isolation and
treatment of the severe types of Scarlet Fever then prevalent
and the serious and often fatal types of Diphtheria it will be
appreciated what a marked change has taken place. Whether
this change, particularly in the case of Scarlet Fever in which
no immunising agent of real value has been so far produced,
is likely to be of a permanent character remains to be seen.
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