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Corrected diagnosis. The 42 cases in which the diagnosis
was amended after admission were found to be suffering from the
following complaints:—Urticaria, 2; toxic rash, 5; transient
erythema, 2; tonsillitis, 6; rubella, 4; drug rash, 2; influenza, 2;
rhinitis, 1; diphtheria, 2; cellulitis, 1; bronchitis, 1; pneumonia,
1 ; tuberculous meningitis, 1; chicken-pox, 2 ; gastritis, 1; pharyngitis,
2 ; malnutrition, 1; no appreciable disease, 6.
Three cases admitted as diphtheria and two admitted as
measles proved to be suffering from scarlet fever.
Fatality rate. One of the two fatal cases was a girl aged
3 years, who was suffering from septic scarlet fever complicated
by faucial diphtheria. In the other case, a boy aged 2 years, the
disease developed three days after he had a severe sunburn of
the chest and shoulders, and he succumbed to toxaemia within a
fortnight of admission.
The fatality rate was 0.25 per cent, of the admissions.
Scarlet fever antitoxin. This was administered intramuscularly
to 92 cases suffering from a severe attack. The dosage varied
from 10 to 70 c.cs., the average being 16 c.cs. per patient.
Sidphanilamide drugs. Encouraging results were obtained
early in the year from the oral administration of proseptasine
tablets in the treatment of some of the common complications of
scarlet fever, particularly otorrhoea and septic sores. All the
cases of otorrhoea however did not respond to the treatment. One
interesting case was that of a boy, aged 5 years, who developed
profuse double otorrhoea in the fourth week of his illness. He was
treated by a course of proseptasine tablets (one tablet four hourly
for four days). No appreciable improvement in the otorrhoea
resulted, and six weeks later he developed acute streptococcal
meningitis. This was treated vigorously with proseptasine and
prontosil, given partly by intrathecal injection and partly by oral
tables. About 30 c.c.s of turbid cerebro-spinal fluid were withdrawn
once daily and this was replaced by 10 c.c.s of soluseptasine
or prontosil soluble; this was continued for seven days. The
patient also received two prontosil tablets by mouth every four
hours for four days. For five days his temperature was swinging
up daily to 103° and his pulse rate to 140. On the sixth and seventh
days there was a definite improvement in his condition, and by the
eighth day his temperature had dropped to normal and did not rise
again. The cerebro-spinal fluid also cleared, and a few days later
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