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5
I have not found an atom of evidence in any one of these
cases to justify the supposition that local defects of sanitation
have anything to do with causation.
Measles.
Have not prevailed extensively. There were but few
cases and no deaths.
Whooping
Cough.
The same remarks apply to this disease.
Diphtheria.
There have been 12 cases in 12 houses, with one death,
as against 20 cases occurring in 13 houses with 3 deaths
during the previous twelvemonths. These have been
distributed pretty equally throughout the year, cases
having occurred in seven out of the twelve months. Two
or three of them were reported as being of an exceedingly
mild or very slight character. These very mild, almost
transitory cases, are the dangerous ones for the community,
because being so mild they are not always watched and
treated with the extreme care that experience tells us such
a disease, however mild, requires. It is undoubted that
some of the cases are so slight that the disease is not
recognised; they are not seen by a doctor, and no precautions
whatever are taken. Such an individual can
readily communicate the disease by personal contact, and
of all the means the most personal and at the same time
most natural and probable, is kissing. It should be a rule
in all houses, never let a child or grown-up person with a
sore throat, no matter what it may be called or be supposed
to be, kiss or be kissed by another. If that rule, together
with one or two obvious suggestions as to spoons, cups and
such like, were rigidly enforced by parents, nurses and all
in authority, much might be done towards checking
outbreaks or preventing the dissemination of disease. The
late board early in the year wisely sanctioned my making
special arrangements for the supply of Anti-toxin to all