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116
In a recent memorandum the Ministry of Health suggest that a sanitary authority
should be prepared to provide facilities for bacteriological examination of sputum.
Various strains of the pneumococcus can now be differentiated by use of typespecific
anti-sera—a matter of importance in the use of specific serum therapy.
There are four types of anti-sera : types I. and II. are seldom found in healthy
individuals, but are responsible for some 60 per cent, of all cases of lobar pneumonia ;
type III. and the heterogeneous collection in group IV. are normally present in throats
and seldom give rise to cases of pneumonia. Felton's serum, which the Council
supplies (see appropriate paragraph) is used in types I. and II. cases.
The following Table No. 50 shows the number of notifications of Pneumonia
received each month, classified by sex and according to type. It also shows the
number of deaths occurring from acute primary pneumonia and influenzal pneumonia.