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Metropolitan Asylums Board hospitals, and 1 by other medical practitioners.
This gives the net number of cases of diphtheria notified during the year
as 381, equal to an incidence rate of T83 per 1,000 population, and 2.04 per
1,000 civil population.
The number of deaths from diphtheria certified during the year was 25,
equal to a drath-rate of 0.12 per 1,000 population, and 0.13 per 1,000 civil
population, and a case mortality of 5.5 per cent, of cases notified.
Other statistical facts in regard to diphtheria will be found on pages 13-14.
Of the notified cases of diphtheria 415 (or 98.7 per cent.) were removed to
hospital as follows:—
To Metropolitan Asylum Board hospitals 441
To other hospitals 4
445
Return Cases.—In 5 instances (in 5 houses) cases of diphtheria occurred
within 28 days of the return from hospital to the same house of previous
cases of the same disease, in 4 instances in the same family, and in one instance
in a different family. The intervals between the return of the infecting (?)
case and the onset of the return case were 6, 18, 19, 19, and 24 days respectively.
In 2 of the infecting (?) cases there were no apparent signs of infectiousness,
and in another there was s ight nasal catarrh. In the 2 other cases there
was nasal discharge, which showed the 13. diphtheriae on swabbing: these
were re-admitted to hospital.
In one of these instances (24 days: separate family) there were 2 other
cases of diphtheria, taking their onset 4 and 7 days respectively after the first
return case.
There were also 2 other cases of diphtheria (in 2 houses) occurring within
6 weeks of the return of previous cases in the same family. In one of these,
the infecting (?) case had nasal discharge and otorrhœa, gave a positive swab
from the nose, and was re-admitted to hospital.
Thera was one case of diphtheria occurring 5 weeks after the return from
hospital of a brother who ha 1 suffered from scarlet fever. The first case had
slight nasal catarrh.
In one house there was a somewhat remarkable series s of return-cases (included
in those mentioned above). In February 3 cases of diphtheria
occurred in the T. family 24, 28, and 31 days after the return of an earlier
case of diphtheria in the same house (C family). Two of these caught scarlet
fever in hospital, and a few days after they returned home in April another
brother (C.T.J developed scarlet fever. After a long stay in hospital he
returned home, and 5 weeks later (in September) one of the earlier cases
developed diphtheria again. 18 days after the return of the latter the boy
(C.T.), who had had scarlet fever in April, developed diphtheria.