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enables the pathologist to say if the patient is
suffering in the early stages, and when the patient
is cured in the later stages of the disease.
(c) The discovery of a substance which can be injected
into the*veins which, while harmless to the patient,
is destructive to the micro-organism of Syphilis
in the blood.
(5) Treatment by a herbalist, or quack, or other unskilled
person should never be resorted to if a permanent
cure is to be obtained.
(6) Venereal diseases are contagious and until pronounced
cured by the doctor in charge, the patient must
avoid sexual intercourse which will spread the disease.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
There is no condition which depends more on early recognition
and early treatment for its speedy and complete
cure than Ophthalmia Neonatorum. The disease was made
compulsorily notifiable by an order of the Local Government
Board on 1st April, 1914. It is prevalent among the children
of the poor, and has been computed to cause one-tenth
of all cases of blindness, and one-third of all institutional
blind cases.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum is due to infection of the
child's eyes from the maternal passages, during birth, and
is usually of gonorrhceal origin.
The first manifestation of the disease may be noticed
within the first few days of birth, or in the less severe cases
up to three weeks after birth.
In the acute cases, which develop early, there is intense
swelling of the eye-lids, and a profuse purulent discharge
generally both eyes being affected.