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adopted at the Isolation Hospital. There seems some
reason to think that the persistence of Diphtheria in the
community, even with careful isolation of notified cases, is
due to a certain number of cases which are so slight that
a doctor is not consulted, and as a consequence the germs
linger in the throat or nose for long periods. These infected
individuals, known as "carriers," may readily communicate
the disease to persons they meet, although apparently quite
well themselves. The result of free bacteriological
diagnosis, such as obtains in Ilford, is apparently to increase
the number of notified cases at first. This increase is somewhat
fallacious and is due to the number of slight cases
detected, which would otherwise be missed. Apart from
the occasional outbreaks of epidemics there is every reason
to anticipate a substantial decline in Diphtheria mortality
in those districts such as Ilford, where exact bacteriological
diagnosis is combined with an efficient hospital service.
The results obtained may be classified as follows :—
Swabs from Isolation Hospital : —
Positive (Diphtheria) 30
Negative (Hoffmann's bacillus) 21
Negative 60
Total 111
Swabs from Local Practitioners :—
Positive (Diphtheria) 33
Negative (Hoffmann's bacillus) 9
Negative 66
Total 108
Swabs from School Medical Officer :—
Positive (Diphtheria) 6
Negative (Hoffmann's bacillus) 10
Negative 37
Total 53