View report page

35
Obviously what occurred during August was that a large number of
children suffered from mild Scarlet Fever, were slightly ill for a few
days, and then got about as usual, the parents failing to recognise that
there was anything the matter worse than "a sick headache," a "headache
and Nettle rash," a "bit of cold with sore throat."
In one family a child had "Measles" and recovered, another had
"Measles" and recovered in a few days; these were followed by two
other children with severe Scarlet Fever.
I need not add that the so-called first Measles case was Scarlet
Fever and accounted for the other three.
In October five cases occurred among some young factory hands who
worked in the same room.
When the third case arose I visited the workroom, and with the cooperation
of the owner and the Welfare workers of the factory, we found
the original case, a girl, who, after being away for a few days with "Sore
Throat" returned to work and infected the others.
I had a very large number of the girls under observation for some
time owing to inflamed condition of Tonsils, but only one developed
Scarlet Fever following the discovery of the original case.
Many writers on the subject of Scarlet Fever aver that these Sore
Throats are symptomatic of the disease in a mild form and account for
the continued prevalence of the disease, notwithstanding Isolation
Hospital treatment and other precautionary measures.
From the figures given above it will be seen that only in the
last four months of the year 1920 was there anything like unusual
Scarlet Fever prevalence in the District, and some reasons for this I
have given.
Let us see how we compare with other Districts, as shown from the
returns issued weekly by the Ministry of Health and the quarterly
returns of the Registrar-General.