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28
SCARLET FEVER.
Incidence.
Four of the 184 patients notified as suffering from scarlet fever
were subsequently found to be suffering from some other condition—in
most cases tonsillitis, and the nett figure of 180 is an incidence rate per
thousand population of 0.83. The rate for the country as a whole was
1.37, the local rates for the years 1934-1946 ranged from 1.06 to 4.70.
Throughout the first quarter of the year the average weekly notification
rate was 5, in the second quarter 4, in the third 1.5, and in the
fourth 4.0.
Deaths.
There were no deaths in the district from scarlet fever.
Place of Treatment.
46 per cent. of the cases were treated at the home at the election of
the parents. In a further 15 per cent. there seemed no reason the
patient should not have remained at home. In 15 per cent, the reason
for removal was the presence of other children in the house, in 11 per
cent, that the patient was an adult, and in another 11 per cent, the
infectious patient was an inmate of a hospital.
Secondary Infection.
Secondary infections occurred in eight households. In most only
the single secondary patient was infected. In two households there
were two patients in addition to the primary case. In four cases the
primary patient had not been removed to hospital. Most of the secondary
infections occurred in the month of December, about the same time as
the occurrence of a relapse in two patients discharged together. In one
instance the secondary case was the mother who was nursing the original
patient at home.
Return Cases.
Return cases occurred in two households, both within a week of
the return home of the primary case who in one instance presented no
abnormal signs, but in the other had developed a sore nose.
Schools and Infection.
In only two instances this year was there any suggestion of infection
having been contracted at school. In the one—an infants' department
—over a period of three weeks in December six cases occurred, mostly
in children in the one class. The other instance was of three children
of the same class—an infants' department—falling ill in the same week.
ENTERIC FEVER.
Four cases of enteric fever were notified amongst the general
population during the year. One patient proved to be suffering from
rubella, another from sinusitis. One, an adult who was ill with typhoid
fever the day she arrived at the address in this district, had only recently