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dietetic indiscretion. It is fairly safe to say that when the disease is prevalent,
the recorded extent of the incidence is proportionate to the diligence
with which infected persons are sought and bacteriologically investigated.
Scarlet Fever
Incidence of scarlet fever reached a low record in the year 1956 when
only 27 cases were notified. In the two succeeding years it rose to 59 in
in 1957 and now to 121 in the year under review. This is very comparable
to the prevalence of the post war years though still much lower than before
World War II. As has been observed in recent reports, scarlet fever has
become progressively milder in character during the first half of the present
century and restrictions both on patients and contacts have been drastically
reduced. As in the case of Sonne dysentery, there is evidence now that its
very mildness creates increased difficulty in controlling its spread. So little
importance clinically is now attached to this disease that notification and
precautionary action no longer receive the attention which is called for.
Coupled with the mildness of the illness is the fact that it responds readily to
modern chemo-therapeutic treatment and it is difficult to persuade parents
that there is some purpose in reasonable isolation for at least a fortnight
when a child is apparently well after only a few days of mild indisposition.
Of the total 98 (81 %) patients were nursed at home. This is the
highest total so nursed yet recorded.