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7
Small Pox.—No case.
Scarlatina.—Fifteen cases were notified.
They were all isolated and no particular locality
was affected; they appeared in nearly all months of
the year, but the majority occurred from September
to the end of the year.
Diphtheria.—Of the 22 cases 14 were persons
of 5 years and upwards, including a woman of 60,
and the remaining 8 were children under 5 years
of age This is a large increase compared with
former years. The disease never appeared in an
epidemic form, it never attacked special localities,
and the majority of cases occured in small cottages
at no particular season of the year. It is well
known that the specific diphtheritic bacillus is
often found in the throat as long as 6 or 7 weeks
after recovery, and it is also known that as long as
the bacillus is present, the danger of infection has
not passed. Such being the case, it is not safe to
allow a child who may appear quite well at the end
of a fortnight to mix with others as the disease
might thus be spread. Two such cases happened
during the year; in each case the child suffering
from the disease was isolated and every precaution
taken to prevent infection, but notwithstanding in
the first case another child was attacked after four
weeks, and in the second case after five weeks
lapse of time. Experience thus shows that it is
not advisable to allow children who have been
suffering from diphtheria to mix too soon with
other children, and they ought to be excluded from
school for at least 7 to 8 weeks after the beginning
of the illness. Diphtheria being an eminently
infectious disease, Isolation is the only effective
remedy against its spread, but this cannot be
accomplished under ordinary circumstances in the
patient's house, but can easily be effected in an
Isolation Hospital where the mischief of allowing