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their homes by the Health Visitor immediately after discharge,
these visits continuing so long as they appear to be required.
The following Table sets out the result of the observations
which have been made upon these patients:—
Total number of persons discharged during 1935 71
Persons in whom no abnormalities attributable to
the original attack were discovered after 14
days 63
Patients developing rhinorrhœa 5
,, ,, mild rheumatism 1
,, ,, transient albuminuria 1
,, not examined 1
In every case, the abnormality which developed was slight and
of no serious import. All had disappeared by the end of the third
week, the patients being then in a satisfactory physical condition.
One child developed whooping-cough shortly after discharge
from hospital. It was not necessary to re-admit any of the patients
to hospital, with the exception of the child who developed whoopingcough.
These patients are now being examined approximately
twelve months after their attack of scarlet fever. So far, no illeffects
have been evidenced, following the original infection.
I consider this work to be definitely valuable and worthy of
continuation over a prolonged period. It is yielding most useful
information, not only as regards the effect produced by the treatment
given in the Isolation Hospital, but also as regards the
general after-effects of attacks of scarlet fever of varying intensity
and type. In addition, it allows us to exercise more careful supervision
over patients discharged from hospital, and should thus
minimise the danger of "return cases." In this connection, it is
interesting to note that the only "return case" met with during
1935 occurred in the mother of a child who had developed symptoms
of whooping-cough within a few days of admission to hospital and
who had been discharged after a prolonged stay in hospital, at the
parents' own request.
Diphtheria.—Twenty-five cases of diphtheria were notified
during 1935, as against 44 during the previous year. None of
these cases was secondary.
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