View report page

9
Smallpox.—No case of this disease'was notified; 1 receive
occasional notices from Port Medical Officers of Health apprising
me of the occurrence of any case of smallpox on board a ship
arriving in port, giving names and addresses of any person
amongst passengers or crew who have stated their intention
of coming into this district. Such persons are visited.
Scarlet Fever.—Thirty cases were notified. All these were
isolated cases, the source of infection being, in most instances,
imported. School children had not so much influence in spreading
this disease as in the previous year. Twenty were
removed to the Isolation Hospital. Two deaths were caused
by this disease.
Diphtheria—Thirty-one cases occurred, of which 19 were
removed to the Isolation Hospital. Two cases were fatal. Most
of these cases were connected with some local sanitary defect,
discovered and remedied by the Sanitary Inspector.
Enteric Fever.—Three cases were notified, one a fatal one;
the patient refused to go into the hospital until she became too
ill to be removed. The others were removed. The latter cases
were associated with sanitary defects of the local drains, the
former case was attributed to the eating of shell fish.
Measles prevailed to a very considerable extent, as it
did in the Rural District, and in most parts of the country.
The epidemic extended from the early part to the middle of
the year. Fortunately the mortality was nil, doubtless owing
to the absence, in most cases, of Bronchitis or Pneumonia,
the usual causes of death from this disease; this was probably
due to the abnormal mildness of the weather, and possibly
also to the distribution of leaflets by the Council to all houses
in the district, giving short instructions as to isolation and
management to those parents who did not (as in the majority
of instances) call in medical aid. 227 cases were notified.
Several of the schools were closed for a period. I am afraid
that the notification of the disease was not a potent element in
checking the disease, and' I suggest that, on the onset of any
future outbreak, if it is found that the instructions of the
Education Board with regard to exclusion of children from