View report page

39
persons; 12 in households of 6 persons; 1 in a household of 2
persons; and 3 in households of over 6 persons. So far as concerns
the number of children—apart from the patient—in the affected
households, it appears that in 42 instances there was not any child
under 14 in the house; in 34 cases there was only one child
under 14; in 13 cases there were only 2 children under 14;
and only in 3 cases were there three or more children of this age.
Even bearing in mind the relatively small families of the present
age, 1 find it somewhat surprising that in 76 instances there should
be only one other child or no other child under 14, apart from the
patient, in the households involved.
Duration of Isolation.—The hospital stay of the average case
was 19.8 days, whilst the average home case was a stay of 30.5 days.
In general the disease was of a mild type. When, for example,
an opinion is asked for in regard to some person probably working
and possibly the main support of a household, who has had a transient
rash with trivial constitutional upset some time before, and in
the absence of visible sequelae such as desquamation, it is very
difficult to reconcile public health caution with, at the same time,
due regard for the circumstances of the patient, and so mild is this
disease in many present-day cases, that problems of this kind must
very frequently present themselves.
The necessary length of isolation for a home case must also
present considerable difficulty and the variation in practice which
is apparent on analysing any large number of cases is evident proof
of the lack of precision on this point.
It is perhaps worth recording that 3 cases of Scarlet Fever of a
mild type developed after 12 children had attended a party.. It
must be pointed out that no question of negligence on anyone's
part by any means necessarily arises if, for example, children contract
a disease of this nature after their attendance at some gathering.
It is of course essential that should there be a case of infectious
disease in a household, any social event in the house, especially for
the younger members of the family should be deferred until a more
auspicious occasion, but it may well be that there is in fact no
indication that anything untoward is present and hence quite unwittingly
infection may be contracted or carried. Irrespective, however,
of social events, cinemas and the like, it must be recognised
that it is quite impossible for anyone living a normal life to avoid
daily exposure to disease of various types, and the object must
therefore must be to eliminate quite unnecessary exposures.
Dysentery.
Work during the year on an extensive outbreak of Dysentery—
of a Sonne type—at a local school.
A full report has already been presented to the various Authorities
interested, and it is not intended here to repeat the facts
in detail.