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Diphtheria.—One hundred and fifteen patients were admitted
to the Isolation Hospital as cases of diphtheria during
the year. The admissions were therefore 95 less than during 1930.
Of these 115 cases, 94 ultimately proved to be suffering from
undoubted clinical diphtheria.
Nineteen of the patients were contacts who had been
swabbed and found to be harbouring diphtheria bacilli either in
the nose or throat.
In two of the cases admitted as diphtheria, the diagnosis was
not confirmed by further bacteriological investigation.
The following complications were noted among the 115
patients under treatment:—
Nasal Paralysis 14
Ciliary Paralysis 5
Multiple Neuritis 6
Bell's Palsy 1
Paralysis of External Rectus 1
Otitis Media 5
Adenitis 3
Nephritis 1
Pleurisy 1
Secondary Tonsilitis 9
Included in this number were nine patients who were
admitted with respiratory obstruction due to laryngeal diphtheria.
Tracheotomy was performed in two cases.
Another patient was admitted after tracheotomy had been
performed outside. All these patients made good recoveries.
In all, three deaths occurred among the 115 cases admitted
as diphtheria.
Amongst the ninety-four clinical cases of diphtheria two
deaths occurred giving a fatality rate of 2.1 per cent.
One death from cerebral hæmorrhage following birth injury
occurred in an infant admitted as a case of nasal diphtheria.
Most of the cases of diphtheria under treatment were mild
in type.
Three negative swabs were obtained from the nose and
throat of all cases prior to discharge.
No "return" cases of diphtheria occurred during the year.
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