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46
for the first nine months of the year, but a slight rise in
prevalence occurred during October and November, and the
cases became more severe. Seven cases proved fatal. Six of
these were suffering from the "septic type" of the disease;
the seventh died from nephritis. The fatality rate was 1.6 per
cent. of the admissions.
In 24 cases the disease was complicated by the presence of
other infections as follows:—
Scarlet Fever with Diphtheria 15 cases
,, ,, ,, Measles 4 ,,
,, ,, Whooping Cough 2 ,,
,, ,, ,, Pneumonia 2 ,,
,, „ ,, Chicken-pox 1 case
Diphtheria.—Cases of Diphtheria showed a slight increase
over the number treated during the previous year. The type of
the disease, however, was on the average much milder. The
total number under treatment was 783, which is 71 more than
in the previous year, but the total deaths were 23 as compared
with 40 in the previous year.
According to the history obtained of the 23 fatal cases, the
duration of illness before admission to the Hospital was as
follows: —
1 case had been ill 2 days before admission.
10 cases ,, ,, ,, 3 ,, ,, ,,
5,, ,, ,, ,, 4 ,, ,, ,,
4 ,, ,, ,, ,, 5 ,, ,, ,,
2 ,, ,, ,, ,, 6 ,, ,, ,,
In one case the duration of illness was not known. The
ages of these cases were as follows : —
14 were under 5 years of age.
7 ,, between 5 and 10 years.
2 „ „ 10 „ 13 „
None of the cases received antitoxin before admission.
The average amount of antitoxin given to them in the Hospital
was 42,000 units. The average amount given to all the cases
was 19,000 units.