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16
Ten of the 22 cases of Diphtheria in 1924 were among the children
attending one or other of the departments of one of the Schools, six of them
occurring in December ; the other 12 patients were not attending any of
the Schools.
Bacteriological examinations are carried out at the Lister Institute of
Preventive Medicine on behalf of the District Council. During the year
1925, 44 specimens were examined for the presence of the diphtheria
bacillus, with 3 positive results, and 1 for the Widal reaction, with negative
result. These figures do not include the specimens from patients in the
Isolation Hospital.
The District Council provide diphtheria antitoxin for use in necessitous
cases, and 13 phials of 8,000 units were issued during the year.
No applications of the Schick or Dick tests in Diphtheria and Scarlet
Fever were made.
One case of Small-pox occurred in 1924. The patient, who had come
from another District, was found to be suffering from the disease on his
admission to the Casual Ward of the Guardians' Institution, and was
removed to the County Small-pox Hospital at Clandon.
The course of the illnesses in the two cases notified as Enteric Fever in
1922 rendered it improbable that the disease was of that nature. Two of
the other private patients had Para-typhoid B. Fever, and the fifth patient,
who was already suffering from the disease when he came into the District,
died of Typhoid Fever. The remaining four patients included in the figures
in the Table were members of the staffs at the Mental Hospital.
Three of the cases of Encephalitis Lethargica notified in 1924 and 1925
had been admitted to the Infirmary from other Districts, and a fourth
patient already had symptoms of the disease when he came on a visit to the
District. The disease was found, on post mortem examination, to have
been the cause of death of a woman in the Infirmary in December, 1925.
The sex, age and time of onset of illness in the cases belonging to Epsom
are shown below :—
Sex. Age. Month of onset. Result.
F 4 April, 1924 Suffers from sequelœ
F 21 April, 1924 Suffers from sequelœ
M 17 May, 1924 Suffers from sequelœ (severe)
F 10 May, 1924 Suffers from sequelœ (severe)
F 73 May, 1924 Died June, 1924
F 30 October, 1921 Suffers from sequelœ
F 44 January, 1925 Apparently complete recovery
F 52 May, 1925 .. Died June, 1925
M 63 September, 1925 Apparently complete recovery
F 26 October, 1925 .. Apparently complete recovery
All the invaded houses were in the northern half of the District. Eight
of the patients were admitted to the Infirmary, and one to a London
Hospital. An inquiry into the earlier cases was made by Dr. A. S.
MacNalty, a Medical Inspector of the Ministry of Health.
Under the Public Health (Pneumonia, etc.) Regulations, 1919, 58 cases
of Pneumonia were notified, and 46 of these were in, or were subsequently
admitted to, the Infirmary; during the period, 8 deaths from Lobar