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75
another pupil of the same department was notified. The same day the
Headmistress telephoned because she was concerned about the number
of children in three classes of that department who were suffering from
sore throats or tonsillitis. According to the statements of the mothers of
some of them, some of the children peeled, but although a doctor was in
attendance, the cases were not notified as being scarlet fever. The Headmistress
wrote to the parents of the children suffering from sore throats
advising that they should be taken to their own doctors, and each not be
returned to school until the doctor was of the opinion that the child was
free from infection. A circular letter was sent to all the doctors practising
in the neighbourhood advising them of the occurence of these cases of
scarlet fever and sore throats, and letting them know that they might be
seeing a number of those children who had had sore throats. There were
two new cases in the week ending November 5th, the children being in
different classes in the same department. In each of the next five weeks
there was one case from this same department In the week ending November
19th, cases were reported from the Infants' department of two
other schools in the same locality. In the succeeding three weeks each of
these had four more cases. In the meantime, the rest of the district was
particularly free from infection. Even these schools became free by the
week ending December 10th and there was no recurrence on the schools
re-opening after the Christmas holidays.
SMALLPOX
There were no occasions this last year of contacts of those suffering
from smallpox coming into the district and so having to be kept under
surveillance.
Vaccination. During the year, 2,364 persons living in the district
were vaccinated against smallpox for the first time. Of these, 1.721 were
under one year of age and 250 were over one but under two years of age.
837 persons were re-vaccinated. 3,117 babies were born during the year.
The number of vaccinations of those under one year of age was therefore
fifty-five per cent, of the births. Of those under one year of age who were
vaccinated, 795 were treated at the infant welfare centres.
At one time it was not unusual for septic complications to vaccination
to set in or sometimes for there to be a spread of a generalised vaccinia.
These complications today are relatively uncommon. At the time the
country was invaded in the early 1930's with the atypical type of smallpox
which spread so markedly, large numbers of people were vaccinated. A
number of them suffered from an encephalitis. It has since that time been
appreciated that this condition might develop as a complication of a
number of infections, the most common perhaps being mumps. As a
complication of vaccination, it occurs only rarely and is found to occur
less commonly after the primary vaccination of infants than when vaccination
is carried out for the first time in older persons, a case in favour of
the Practice of the routine vaccination of infants. This last year this
complication occurred not in a person who was being primarily vaccinated
but was being re-vaccinated. On the 9th August a lady of forty was re-