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38
Slight cases are not recognised, and children so affected give the
disease to their companions.
During the school sessions 600 children seen at the Clinic were
excluded for varying periods owing to "Sore Throat," and many of
these were subsequently found to be suffering from Diphtheria or
Scarlet Fever.
As a fourth of the year is given up to school holidays, it may be
presumed that in these intervals nearly 200 children suffering in a like
way are the responsible agents for spreading these diseases, as shown in
the invariable increase of notifications received upon the re-opening of
the schools.
Following the first month of the year there was no unusual prevalence
of Diphtheria at any period, but the aftermath of 1919 extended to the
end of March.
The disease in 1919 and 1920 was characterised by a long persistence
of the Diphtheria Bacillus in the throats and noses of the sufferers, and
to enable the Hospital to cope with urgent cases a number of these
children were taken to their homes and kept under constant observation
and subjected to treatment till quite well.
Twenty-eight of these patients had Diphtheria Bacilli Vaccine for
varying periods.
Some did remarkably well under it, as shown by the disappearence of
the Diphtheria germ after the second dose; others cleared up from 2 to
12 weeks, after repeated doses; but upon two the treatment had no
effect and they are still under observation, over a year having elapsed
since first notified.
Nearly 53 per cent. of the sufferers were removed to the Isolation
Hospital. The removals included the very bad cases and those unable
to be isolated or properly treated in their own homes.
The numbers removed to Hospital were less than usual. The reasons
for this were mainly the difficulty in procuring an adequate staff and
thus getting the maximum result from the accommodation provided,
added to the fewer number of patients admitted per bed, due to the
long periods of infectivity of many of the patients admitted.
Twelve deaths occurred among the 197 cases treated in Hospital and
7 among the 178 treated at home.
The explanation of the comparative unfavourable mortality-rate of
those treated in Hospital is seen on page 44 of the Hospital Report,
and its explanation has already been given.
The discrepancy in the numbers of deaths given above and those on
page 43 is due to the inclusion in the latter of deaths of patients from
Loughton.