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There was, however, one fatal case of scarletinal myocarditis in
a 5 year old child in which death from acute heart failure occurred
within 12 hours of the onset of the symptoms on the 5th day
after admission. This must have been an instance of the now
rare hypertoxic variety of the disease, though previous signs and
symptoms had not suggested that such was the case.
The average period in hospital of scarlet fever cases was 28
days. Two cases of scarlet fever were cross-infected with chickenpox,
while a third case was admitted while incubating chicken-pox
developing the disease 11 days after admission. One of the scarlet
fever cases was due to an infected burn. In the following cases
admitted as suffering from scarlet fever, the diagnosis had to be
altered as shown :— .
Tonsillitis 3 Measles 1
Rubella 2 Eczema 1
Toxic Erythema 1 Dermatitis 1
Purpura Simplex 1 Pharyngitis 1
Papular Urticaria 1 Lobar Pneumonia 1
MEASLES.—There was a total of 86 cases of measles admitted
during the year. The high proportion of measles admissions
was due to the occurrence of an epidemic of this disease during
the last four months of the year which necessitated reserving a
special ward for measles patients. 54 of these admissions were
from Ealing and 32 from Brentford and Chiswick. The age distribution
of measles cases was as follows:—
Under 3 3—5 Over 5
46 21 19
The complications encountered, most of which were present
on admission, were as follows :—
Broncho pneumonia 21 Tonsillitis 1
Otitis Media 5 Blepharitis 1
Bronchitis 4 Subcutaneous Abscess . 1
Acute Mastoiditis 2 Pharyngitis 1
Gastro-enteritis 2 Stomatitis 1
Scarlet Fever and Conjunctivitis 1
Septicaemia 1 Coryza 1
Cellulitis 1
A high incidene of haemorrhagic rashes was also noted1.
It will be seen that the majority of cases admitted were young
children in many of whom chest complications had already
occurred. The high incidence and severity of complications—a
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