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Another reason for this is that the first cases being of so mild a
nature it has not been considered desirable to have them at once
taken to a hospital. They have consequently been treated at home
in the hope that they could be properly isolated, resulting in many
instances in other cases in the infected houses. There seems to be
an opinion, which has been frequently expressed to me lately, that,
because a case of Scarlet Fever is a mild one, it can be effectually
isolated at home, and the period during which it is infectious is
correspondingly short, whereas it is a well-known fact that, the
less severe the case, the longer is the time taken generally for the
completion of the desquamation. It should also be understood that
it by no means follows that a mild case may not be the means of
communicating the disease to another patient in a much more
severe form. With a view to stopping the spread of this disease,
special means are being taken in the districts principally affected,
and a circular note is to be sent to the medical gentlemen practising
in the neighbourhood, urging them to use their best endeavours to
the same end, but principally to impress on parents the paramout
necessity of sending first cases as promptly as possible into hospital,
and, failing that, to see that instructions as to isolating the patients
at home are strictly carried out."
Typhoid Fever.—Fever cases of this disease have been notified,
the number 34 for 1896 comparing with 46 for 1895, and with 40 for
1894. Most of the cases occurred in the latter half of the year.
No Ward has been free from this disease, and, taking the population
into account, the disease has been distributed pretty evenly over the
whole of the District.
Diphtheria.—About the average number of cases have been
notified, namely, 95 for 1896, comparing with 89 for 1895, and with
117 for 1894. There were more cases in the 3rd than in any other
quarter, and less in the second. This disease, like Typhoid Fever, has
been distributed throughout the whole of the District, no single Ward
having been exempt from it. Neither can it be said that it has
particularly affected any Ward. From this the conclusion may be
drawn that it has been due to strictly local causes, and that no general
insanitary condition predisposing to the occurrence of this disease exists
in any of the Wards. The usual custom of having the drains, &c., of