[Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, Lanark County Council.

  • Lanarkshire (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, Lanark County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The predominating type of disease was mild, and many eases were so mild as to escape recognition at first. No common source of infection was discovered in any particular series of cases, infection being apparently conveyed by personal contact. The number of cases removed to hospital was 1,473 or 91-6 per cent, of all the cases notified. 2 secondary cases occurred in families where patients were isolated at home, and 52 in families where the first case was removed to hospital. The age incidence of cases and deaths for the whole County was :— Ages, -1 1-5 5-15 15-25 25-45 45-65 65+ All ages. Cases, - 15 516 929 75 65 7 — 1,607 Deaths, - — 5 4 — — — — 9 “ Return ” Gases.—68 of the cases discharged from hospital during the year were apparently still capable of carrying infection, and may have given rise to 77 “ return ” cases. Of the infecting cases, it was found that in 46 no departure from apparently normal health could be found, 11 had developed a nasal discharge, 3 excoria- tion of nose, 2 a discharging ear, 2 swollen glands, 2 otorrhoea, 1 rhinitis, and 1 herpes on lip. The interval which elapsed between the dismissal from hospital of the infecting cases and the onset of illness in the “ return ” cases was as follows:— Under 1 week. 1-2 weeks. 2-3 weeks. 3-4 weeks. 25 30 14 8 Altered Diagnosis.—Of the 1,473 cases admitted to hospital, the diagnosis of scarlet fever was regarded as doubtful in 40 cases, while in 19 no evidence of the presence of scarlet fever could be detected. The diagnosis was revised in 55 other cases, as follows :—Measles, 8; sore throat, 10; erythema, 3; mumps, 1; whooping-cough, 1; puerperal fever, 2; enteritis, 1; pneumonia, 3; nephritis of pregnancy, 11 ; bronchitis, 3; tonsillitis, 2; impetigo, 1; dermatitis, 1; septic rash, 2; mastitis, 1; otorrhoea, 1; teething, 1; chickenpox, 3; diphtheria, 4; burns, 2; cellulitis, 1 ; tuberculous meningitis, 1 ; erysipelas, 1; rheumatism, 1. In 8 cases the scarlet fever was com- plicated with measles, in 2 with chickenpox, in 2 with whooping-cough,