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149
or "not diphtheria"; there is rarely any data supplied about the
seriousness of the illness, short of death. Now, the 43 cases which
were recorded as diphtheria after the school was inoculated were
mostly boys who had mild sore throats of two or three days duration
which could not have been recognised as diphtheria without a
bacteriological examination. No cases were severe with the one
exception of a new boy who got diphtheria before there was time to
immunise him. Some of the 43 cases, indeed, were probably not
diphtheria at all, but carriers of diphtheria who were suffering
from a sore throat which was due to some other cause. All such
cases were, however, labelled as diphtheria in order to avoid any
accusation of 'cooking' the statistics in favour of anti-diphtheria
inoculation.
To summarise—For many years, in a residential school of about
a thousand boys, diphtheria had been an endless source of sickness,
worry and loss of time. Every known method of prevention, with the
exception of artificial active immunisation, had been energetically
employed, without any appreciable effect on the prevalence of diphtheria.
The boys were then inoculated, and all anxiety concerning
diphtheria ceased. Numerous carriers continued to arise but they
were allowed the freedom of the school and no longer lost training and
recreation in the isolation block—a splendid testimonial to the efficacy
of anti-diphtheria inoculation after all other methods of prevention had
failed."
Dr. J. Alison Glover.
Dr. Glover spoke principally on the effects of scarlet fever in
residential institutions and in milk outbreaks, which at the moment
the Committee is not considering.
Dr. Matthew Burn.
"Immunisation in Birmingham.
Ten residential institutions have been immunised since 1925.
Before immunisation was carried out in them, diphtheria was
prevalent, but since 1925 there have been no cases. Before inoculation
commenced in 1925 there were 1,600—2,000 deaths. Since
1925 the number of cases and deaths have decreased steadily to
417 cases in 1933 and 33 deaths.
The year 1934 saw an increase of diphtheria of a virulent type
throughout the country, the cases for England and Wales rising
from 47,000 in 1935 to 69,000, and the fatality rate from 5.5 to
5.9, and there were no fewer than 4,000 deaths from the disease in