View report page

113
3 cases of acute poliomyelitis and 1 of polio-encephalitis were notified
during the year. The case of polio-encephalitis died. One case of acute
poliomyelitis made a complete recovery; the other two recovered but show
slight wasting' of the affected limb
Acute
Poliomyelitis
Polioencephalitis
4 cases occurred during the year, and there were 3 deaths. The death
rate for the whole Borough was .01 per 1,000 of the population.
Encephalitis
Lethargica.
13 cases were notified during the year, and there were 4 deaths. The
death rate for the whole Borough was .01 per 1,000 of the population.
Of the 9 cases which recovered, 6 made a complete recovery, 2 show slight
paralysis, and 1 has left the district and cannot be traced. With one exception,
all these 13 cases received serum treatment.
Cerebrospinal
Meningitis.
Again there has been a decrease in the number of notified cases, there
being 13 cases as against 32 in the previous year. 6 cases were removed to
hospital. There were no untoward results.
Ophthalmia
Neonatorum.
5 cases of puerperal fever and 38 cases of puerperal pyrexia were notified
during the year, there being 7 less cases than in the previous year. All these
cases were duly investigated and all made complete recovery. 39 cases were
removed to hospital.
Puerperal
Fever and
Puerperal
Pyrexia.
315 cases of Pneumonia and 1 of Dysentery were notified under these
Regulations during the year. There were 235 deaths from Pneumonia, or
33 less than in the previous year. 119 of these were in persons over 45 years
of age. It is obvious that many cases of Pneumonia are never notified.
Pneumonia
Malaria and
Dysentery
Regulations.
133 cases of infectious diseases removed to hospital were found not to be
suffering from the disease stated on the certificate. Of these cases, 45 were
cases of scarlet fever and 88 of Diphtheria; 38 were cases notified by private
practitioners and 95 were from public institutions. This sending to fever
hospitals of cases with a wrong though conscientious diagnosis is not to be
condemned, especially in the case of diphtheria. It is a matter of erring in
the right direction for it is better to send away a case of diphtheria before
being quite certain than to keep it at home until a clinically swab-proof
diagnosis is made. The fever hospitals are much too careful to allow of
anv ill-effects.
Wrong
Diagnosis.
15 cases were notified during the year. On investigation not one of these
cases was proved to be a genuine case of food poisoning, all being cases of
dietetic errors.
Food
poisoning.