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26
SCARLET FEVER.
157 cases were notified during the year, and of these 51 were
sent to hospital. 14 of these cases occurred as secondary to a
case previously reported, but in many cases more than one case is
notified, all appearing to arise from a common source of infection.
One case only was fatal. 8 cases occurred in the Kingston
Victoria Hospital—three weeks elapsed between two of the cases.
How the disease was introduced or kept up was not discovered.
Eight cases occurred in connection with a large printing works:
all the persons attacked being in one exceedingly large room. The
primary case was in a girl who had a slight sore throat, and she
seems to have been responsible for giving the disease to some of
her co-workers and also to friends in houses in the town. The
works were visited several times, and five persons who showed
signs of being carriers (three sore throat, two herpes on the lips)
were excluded from the works for 14 days, after which no other
cases occurred. Seven persons came into the town as visitors and
there developed the disease. Return cases: a mother developed
the disease on the return of the child from hospital—a child contracted
the disease three weeks after the other child returned from
hospital, probably fresh infection.
The disease became prevalent during the summer and continued
to the end of the year. One school was closed for one
week. The type was very mild, and in several cases were only
diagnosed from being connected with other cases in the same
school or dwelling. In 11 cases, the only case was a child under
school age. The closure was short as every susceptible child
seemed to have been attacked and cleansing and disinfection was
necessary.
ACUTE POLIOMYELITIS.
One case was notified aud made a fairly good recovery. A
auspicious case was notified but the symptoms seem more likely
to have been due to overwork in connection with a competition
for young children. Younger than is advisable for competitions.