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28 Report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1932.
This child developed the disease before immunity was
established, as shown by the positive re-test.
Case No. 4.—A girl who at the age of 14 months
received three immunising doses without a primary
Schick Test—she was not brought for re-Schick Test—
two years later she had a severe attack of Clinical
Diphtheria and received 48,000 units of Anti-toxin—a
Schick Test performed four days later was negative—she
recovered from the attack.
In the absence of a re-Schick Test before the attack of
Diphtheria one can only assume that the three injections given
two years previously had not been successful in producing
immunity and that this was another case of delay in the production
of immunity. The negative re-Schick Test obtained
after the attack of Diphtheria might well have been due to the
large dose of Anti-toxin given in the treatment of the illness.
Case No. 5.—Was immunised when two years and
gave a negative re-Schick Test within six months. A few
days before her fifth birthday developed clinical Diphtheria,
cultures from both throat and nose showing the specific
organism. The attack was a mild one and she recovered.
Case No. 6.—Was immunised at the age of four and gave
a negative re-Schick Test within six months. Two and
a half years after the re-test, developed clinical Diphtheria
with the organism present on culture—Recovered.
In addition to these six cases of clinical Diphtheria, cultures
of the Diphtheria organism have been obtained from seven other
children some time after they had been immunised at the Clinics
and had re-acted negative to the re-Schick Test. In another
case this occurred in a child three months after he had given a
negative re-action to the primary Schick Test. In none of these
eight cases was there any definite clinical evidence that they
were suffering from Diphtheria and this was no doubt due to the
fact that they had become insusceptible to the disease.
Scarlet Fever.
763 cases of Scarlet Fever occurred, compared with 678 in 1931,
981 in 1930 and 899 in 1929.