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mild though the attack might be, it is important that all cases should be
recognised because of their infectiousness, the unsuspected patient
infecting in most cases only a member of the same household, but if she
handles food, she might infect very many, all of whom might not escape
with a similar mild attack.
In the seven years, 1934 to 1940, the numbers of cases notified were
1, 3, 3, 24, 13, 5 and 1. Since that time, the numbers of cases notified
have been higher, the actual numbers being 10, 19, 15, 13, 25
and 28.
In 1948, nine cases were notified, but in two the diagnosis was not
confirmed. Three cases occurred in the one household, a child of three
succumbing first to a Sonne infection, to be followed within a few days by
the illness of his brother and his mother. One patient was suffering
from amoebic dysentery contracted in the previous year when he was in
India. Control of dysentery in this country calls for the same measures
as the control of food poisoning.
ERYSIPELAS.
Erysipelas is a disease which, although notifiable, has now little
public health significance. It no longer causes the dreaded outbreaks
in institutions especially amongst patients in the surgical wards, while
to-day's methods of treatment have reduced the mortality rates of those
attacked. Sufferers may be admitted to hospital, but if so, this is usually
to enable them to obtain nursing and medical attention not available
at home, and it is not now carried out with a view to limiting the spread
of infection. There are, however, still some circumstances in which
the disease may be dangerous, and so although for most little needs to
be done, enquiries are still made at the homes of the notified cases. The
most important of these conditions, perhaps, is that of an expectant
mother nearing the time of her confinement being in the same house as a
patient suffering from erysipelas.
Each year, from 1934, the number of cases of erysipelas notified
has ranged from 31 to 48. In 1948, 31 cases were notified, but in one
patient the diagnosis was subsequently amended. Females outnumbered
males by nearly 2 to 1, only 11 of the 30 cases being amongst males. In
more than half the cases the face was the affected site, the leg being the
only other commonly affected area. Half the patients were admitted to
hospital for treatment, all of these being to isolation hospitals.
CEREBRO-SPINAL FEVER.
Each year a number of sporadic cases of cerebro-spinal fever is
notified, the numbers from 1934 onwards being 1, 2, 2, 7, 4 and 4. The
36 cases in 1940 were part of the national outbreak. In the succeeding
years, notifications numbered 25, 13, 7, 7, 11, 9 and 13. In 1948, four
cases were notified, but in only one was the diagnosis confirmed;
this was a girl of four who in March succumbed to meningococcal
septicaemia.