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40
Secondary Infections.
Secondary infections occurred in seven households, in four
of which there was only one secondary case, in two, two cases,
and in one, three cases.
Return Cases.
Return cases occurred in nine households, in most only the
one patient being infected but in two homes two patients each.
At the time of the onset of the illness in the infected patient
the patient discharged home in six cases seemed apparently fit
and exhibited no abnormal signs. In only one case secondary
to these infecting patients was the onset of the illness of the
return case within a week of the return home; in three
instances it was in the second week and in two it was in the
fourth. The onset of illness of those patients who were presumably
infected by the returned patients who exhibited abnormalities
at the time that the infected patients succumbed was
appreciably shorter on the average, in two cases the onset being
within the first week from the return home of the presumably
infecting cases and in the other instance in the second week. Two
of the three patients exhibiting abnormal signs were suffering from
a nasal discharge, and a third from a sore in the nose.
There was one recovery case, the affected patient falling ill
on the sixth day after the infecting case had been freed from
isolation.
Deaths.
Amongst the transfer death returns for the last quarter
of the year was one recording the death from scarlet fever
of a baby boy of eleven months in November. The child had
shortly before been evacuated from this district, apparently being
quite well when he left here.
Schools and Scarlet Fever.
Schools appeared again to play a very small part in the spread
of scarlet fever. In two departments there was possibly some
relation between the incidence and attendance at school as in
one department 8 cases occurred over a period of 7 weeks, and in
another 17 cases over a period of 14 weeks. Apart from these
instances the only other groupings were: on one occasion two
cases occurred in the same department in one week; on two occasions
three cases occurred in the one week; once two cases one
week were followed by one case the next week; and on six occasions
one case was followed by another in the following week.
ENTERIC FEVER.
Three persons were notified as suffering from paratyphoid
fever, one a female of 34 who fell ill in June, and the other a boy