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8
PREVALENCE OF AND CONTROL OVER INFECTIOUS
AND OTHER DISEASES.
SCARLET FEVER.
There was a considerable falling off in the number of
scarlet fever cases notified during the year. The total number
of cases notified was 25 compared with 98 for the previous year.
This gives a rate of 0.65 per 1,000 population.
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The majority of cases were treated in hospital, only five
being kept at home. Among the hospital treated cases there was
one " infecting case," i.e., a case which is presumed to have
given rise to another case in the home within twenty-eight days
of its release from isolation.
With the exception of this one case there was no instance
of multiple infection in the same household.
DIPHTHERIA.
Ten cases of definite diphtheria occurred, while eight other
cases of suspected diphtheria were diagnosed as not so suffering
after observation in hospital. All of the cases were mild or
moderate, and no serious complications occurred. Five of them
had been previously immunised at some time. Experience has
not shaken belief in the value of immunisation, but it has shown
that the protection afforded is of limited duration in a certain
proportion of cases. Regular Schick testing is of value in assessing
a child's resistance to diphtheria, but even the Schick test
is not an absolute criterion of immunity. Probably the best
method of ensuring the retention of a high degree of immuity
is a combination of reinforcing doses during the earlier years
with Schick testing repeated every few years later on.
There are still a number of children in the district, however,
who have not yet had their first immunisation. At the
end of the year records in the Public Health Department showed