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Public Health (Prevention of Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1925.
Public Health Act, 1936, Section 172.
Action under these powers was not necessary during the year.
Venereal Diseases.
The Middlesex County Council is the authority under the Public Health (Venereal
Disease) Regulations, for the treatment of Venereal Disease in the County.
Irradiation Experiment.
In January, 1947, an experiment on the control of the spread of infectious diseases
amongst school children by means of irradiation of the upper air in classrooms and school
halls was commenced. This experiment was to be carried out by the Medical Research
Council with the authority of the Ministry of Health and with the co-operation of the
Statistical Department of the School of Tropical Hygiene and the Middlesex County Council
Education Department.
Southall was chosen for this experiment because it was a compact urban area, fairly
well separated from surrounding districts by canals and railway lines and had pairs of schools
suitable for the carrying out of the experiment.
It will not be possible in this report to give any results of the experiment as the Medical
Research Council and the Statistical Department of the School of Tropical Hygiene wish
to have a picture of the experiment over a considerable period before offering an opinion
as to whether the air treatment is or is not of value.
Similar experiments have been carried out in America and the results found there will
be compared with the findings shown by the Southall experiment.
REPORT ON THE BOROUGH ISOLATION HOSPITAL
During the year 140 patients were admitted to the Isolation Hospital, as compared with
109 in 1946. Of these 96 were sent in as scarlet fever (16 being from Ealing District), 10
as diphtheria (1 from the R.A.F. Station, West Drayton), 15 as measles, 6 as whooping
cough and pneumonia, and 13 as other diseases. Of the cases sent in as scarlatina 8 were
unconfirmed and diagnosed as suffering from other diseases. Similarly of the cases sent
in as diphtheria 9 were unconfirmed.
(Tables No. XXX and XXXI show the figures for the year and for each month,
respectively.)
Scarlatina.
Of the 96 cases notified as scarlatina, 88 were finally diagnosed, and the following
table shows the incidence in age groups of the 88 cases which were nursed in the hospital:—

There was one return case.
Anti-scarlet fever serum was administered to all patients.
Complications of the cases of scarlatina were:—
Septic finger 1
Cardiac irregularity, etc. 2
Myocarditis 1
Otitis Media 7
Adenitis 5
Rhinorrhea 3
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