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12
Amongst the 267 patients treated no less than
1,964,000 units* were given, or an average of slightly
over 7,000 units per patient. Taking the average
cost of antitoxin to be at the rate of 2/6, per 2,000
units, the total amount expended upon antitoxin
during the year was £122 approximately, or an
average of 9/2 per patient. When it is remembered
that the adoption of the antitoxin treatment has led to
the saving on an average of about 20 lives in every 100
cases of diphtheria so treated, which in these 267 cases
means that possibly some 53 patients were saved, this
sum is a trivial amount.
Subsequently to the injection of antitoxin,
eruptions of a nettle rash character appeared in 82
cases. Similarly, 12 cases developed joint pains. In
no instance was either of these conditions of a serious
nature.
SCARLET FEVER.
During the year 274 cases were treated. The
type of attack was extremely mild, as may be gathered
from the fact that only one patient died, a death rate
of .44 per cent.
*A unit being a measure of strength or quality, 2,000 of which are contained
usually in less than a teaspoonful of antitoxin.