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Of the 4,633 children invited for Schick-testing, 2,047 attended, of
whom 47 were found to be positive. This figure of 3.7 is a distinct
increase on that of 2.5 for each of the two previous years.
Two children who were considered to be clinical cases of diphtheria
had been inoculated against diphtheria. One child had 0.2 and 0.5 c.cs
A.P.T. a twelve-month before; she was not subsequently Schick-tested.
The other child was supposed to have been immunised some years before
in another district; no record of this could be traced though and the
child had not been Schick-tested.
Provision of Antitoxin.
Sixty-four lots were issued, totalling 512,000 units.
Schools and the Spread of Infection.
There were no cases this year in which there was any suggestion that
infection had been contracted in school.
SCARLET FEVER.
Incidence.
Out of 44 of the 390 patients notified as suffering from scarlet fever,
the diagnosis was amended to tonsillitis in the case of 15, to German
measles 12, and to erythema 8. A net figure of 346 is an incidence rate
per 1,000 population of 1.87 compared with the rate of 2.40 for the country
as a whole. In this district the incidence had increased from a figure of
1.06 in 1940 to 1.66 in 1941 followed by a sharp rise to 3.16 in 1942 and
a further increase to 3.52 in 1943. The rate during the years 1934 to 1943
had ranged from 1.06 to 4.70.
The incidence was heaviest in the first quarter, with a weekly
average of 14, a range of 8 to 23. This was the same rate which had been
almost uniform throughout 1943 and which in that year had given the
greatest number of cases notified in this district in any one year. There
was a marked fall to a weekly average of 8 in the second quarter, and a
further decline to 3.5 in the third quarter. This was followed by a slight
increase in incidence in the last quarter with an average weekly rate of 6,
a figure though which rose to 9 in the month of December.
Deaths.
No deaths occurred in this district due to scarlet fever.
Place of Treatment.
Of the 390 cases 168 or 43 per cent. were treated at home at the
election of the parents. Of those removed it seemed another 21 per cent.
might have been so dealt with. In 20 per cent. the reason for removal
was the presence of other children at home. In 10 per cent. the patient
was an adult, in 8 per cent. there was more than one patient, in 6 per cent.
of the cases there was no-one to nurse the patient, and in 5 per cent.
there was a baby in the home. In only one case was removal requested
on account of the clinical condition of the patient.