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9
II.—An account of the sanitary condition of the district generally.
The following represents the sanitary condition of the district
as far as relates to the prevalence of zymotic disease, &c.
Scarlet Fever.—90 cases of this disease were notified daring
the year. The disease occurred in more or less an isolated
manner, not assuming the character of an epidemic. Attendance
at school of unrecognised cases was the means of spreading
the disease to a considerable extent.
Nearly all cases were removed to the Isolation Hospital,
and to this I attribute the fact that the disease was kept
fairly within bounds. The disease was mainly of a non-severe
type, but few cases giving cause for anxiety by reason of
severity, two only being fatal.
The steps taken to prevent the spread of Scarlet Fever are
as under:—If the case is removed to the Hospital, the Sanitary
Inspector at once disinfects the rooms, bedding, &c., and when
the wall and ceiling are especially dirty, notice is served on !the
owner to re-paper and whitewash. When the case is not removed,
the disinfection is done after the patient has ceased to be
infectious, and in these instances, the bedding, &c., which has
necessarily become more infectious than when the patient is
removed in the early stages of the disease, is taken to the
Hospital disinfector. That these steps for checking the spread
of the disease are successful is shown by the fact that it
is very rare for a second case to occur in the same 'family,
except where the disease has been simultaneously caused by
exposure to the same source of infection as the first case
removed.
Diphtheria.—42 cases of this disease were notiefid several
of which were not confirmed by a bacteriological examination.
The disease did not assume an epidemic form, and was, in
most instances, connected with local sanitary defects which
were remedied on notice being served by the Sanitary Inspector.