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72
One of the arguments used against notification is, that
there is no hospital accommodation for the patients, but
this does not apply, as removal is unnecessary in the majority
of the cases. Notification would enable sanitary authorities
and teachers to take preventive measures to check its
spread. Notification would cause medical aid to be sought
for, whereby many lives might be preserved which are now
lost through neglect.
3.—Scarlet Fever.
(Decennial average, 9 0.)
186 certificates, of which 23 were duplicates, were received
from medical practitioners under the Notification Act. Of
these 3 cases were fatal.
98 of the cases were removed for isolation and treatment,
the majority being sent to the hospitals of the Asylums
Board.
Scarlet fever with only 3 deaths is notifiable; measles
with 47 deaths is not.
4.—Diphtheria.
(Decennial average, 14.3.)
58 notification certificates of diphtheria were received,
being double of the number sent in the previous year.
The 17 deaths—nearly all children—were also in excess
of last year's mortality, and that for the ten years average.
37 of the patients were removed for hospital treatment.
There can be but little doubt that there is a great
increase of diphtheria sickness and mortality throughout
the country.