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Of the other patients who received injections and were completed by
the end of the year, 15 were positive, and were receiving or had received further
treatment.
Reactions.
Only very few cases were reported in which any reaction occurred. These
were mostly in nervous children, or children with nervous parents, and consisted
merely of being off-colour for a few hours after the injection, or sick that
evening. Only one case was reported with a swollen arm—and this quickly
subsided.
General.
The immunising material used throughout the period was Burroughs
Wellcome & Co.'s Toxoid Antitoxin Floccules (T.A.F.) in dosages of 1 c.c. at
not less than fortnightly intervals. The disadvantage of this material is that
it requires three doses, but the high percentage of successful results and the
freedom from reaction make it difficult to use any other.
It is proposed to re-test any patients who like to re-attend after one year
to see if any of them have relapsed into an unprotected state. The opportunity
will be taken to offer them all one further dose of the immunising substance to
increase still further the protection they have.
At present, however, it is evident that the statement made in the
pamphlet, namely, that protection can be conferred on children in " nine cases
out of ten," is more than justified by the present figures which show that, to
put the figures the other way round, instead of protection failing in one case in
ten, it fails in only one case in twenty.
The response to the institution of a diphtheria clinic has been pretty well
as expected. It is most difficult to get the public actively interested except
when the danger is immediate. For several weeks in the summer few people
attended, but as soon as some cases of diphtheria occurred in a school there was
a great rush to the clinic by the local children. This occurred during most of
the autumn, and accounts for the satisfactory size of the figures for this first
period. But with no further cases of diphtheria occurring in the district, interest
again waned. It appears that prevention is recognised as sound by parents
only when the alternative is thrust in their face; the tragedy is when
recognition takes place too late.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
There was one case of ophthalmia neonatorum notified in 1937, as is
shown in Table No. 47.
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