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visited, and children with suspicious symptoms are excluded.
Disinfection of the cloak-rooms of the Elementary Schools is on
rare occasions carried out at the request of the Head Teachers and
is only done to allay fear as no useful purpose is served by such a
procedure.
The provisions as to work in infected dwellings are enforced in
accordance with the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.
Following removal or recovery, disinfection of premises was
carried out by the Council's employees, and infected clothing,
bedding, etc., were treated by steam under pressure.
Outfits for early Diphtheria, Phthisis and Typhoid diagnoses are
kept at the Public Health Offices, and anti-diphtheritic serum may
be obtained during the day at Lloyd Park, and at all hours from the
Fire Station.
The serum is supplied gratuitously to those unable to pay for its
cost or administration, and during the year the local practitioners
were supplied with 80 bottles of 4,000 Units each for injection of
poorer patients, and 93 injections for prophylactic or curative purposes
were made by me or one of the School Doctors.
Arrangements have been made for the removal of Scarlet Fever
and Diphtheria patients at any hour in case of urgency and the
medical practitioners have been given instructions as to the procedure
to be adopted.
The Regulations issued for the better control of infectious diseases
among school children have been strictly carried out. All contacts
are seen by me as are the patients discharged from the Isolation
Hospital, and children are not re-admitted to School until I satisfy
myself that they are free from infection.
This practice has been followed for the past fourteen years and
no difficulty is now experienced in procuring the attendance of
contacts at the Public Health Offices.
There is little doubt that the procedure is a wise one, and the
work entailed, though considerable, is worth doing, more particularly
in connection with Diphtheria .
Resulting from this procedure 42 cases of Scarlet Fever and 53 of
Diphtheria have been brought to light during the year and many
cases notified as primary were found to be really secondary.
Scarlet Fever is less amenable to control in this way as many
mild cases of this disease go undetected and are never notified.