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42
There will be certain cases still, however, where it will
be desirable to have an outside and independent opinion, and
specimens from these cases will still be sent to the County
Laboratory, as heretofore. It will be seen that the work is
practically confined to the three diseases, Diphtheria,
Tubercle, and Ringworm. The Tubercle examinations are
likely to increase with the increased attention paid to this
disease, but one would hope that the Ringworm examinations
should decrease with the efforts made to control the
spread of this disease.
On receipt of a notification of infectious disease a visit
is paid to the house by a Sanitary Inspector, and information
obtained as to its possible cause, milk and water supply, if
of school age, school attended, occupation of self or parent,
or any other relative particulars. The sanitary conditions of
the premises are gone into and, if necessary, notices are
served to remedy any defect found. On receipt of this
information further enquiries are made at school or elsewhere,
as deemed desirable. This is found to be of practical
importance with regard to Scarlet Fever, as it appears to
be the " missed " cases which give rise to so much trouble,
and it is only by following up possible clues that the district
can be safeguarded. This method is attended with a certain
amount of success, but intercommunication and possible
sources of contact are so numerous that it is impossible to
trace the origin of the majority of the cases.
SMALL POX.
In the beginning of March a man, aged 26 years, was
notified as suffering from Small Pox. He was employed at
the Albert Docks. After the notification I was asked to see
him. There was a distinct history of backache, also headache.
The rash was profuse, but the distribution was more
characteristic of Chicken Pox than Small Pox. The constitutional
symptoms were not in proportion to the amount