[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Guernsey.

  • Guernsey (Channel Islands). Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Guernsey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided for digitisation by Public Health Services, Guernsey.

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    The total number of investigations carried out during 1948 totalled 4009, an increase of 73% on the 1947 return, and comprised more than seventy different tests. The main increases and additions were :— 1947 1948 1. Total blood counts. 258 376 2. Blood sugar estimations. 27 56 3. Blood urea estimations. 8 20 4. Blood Wassermann reactions. .. — 93 5. Blood Kahn standard reactions. .. — 107 6. Blood Kahn Dye reactions. 120 212 7. G.C.F.T. reactions. .. — 21 8. Milk reductase tests. •• 493 1194 9. Ice cream reductase tests. •• 153 249 10. Water samples. 19 478 The total blood count figures comprises a number of new cases together with control laboratory checks on patients previously diagnosed and receiving specific treatment. One case of macrocytic anaemia with a fatal termination failed to respond to various haematinic preparations and showed the excessive immediate post-transfusion loss of 3-4% Hb. daily at R.B.C. levels between 2.5- 3.0 million, following each transfusion. All the haematological findings sup¬ ported a diagnosis of “ Achrestic Anaemia —a rare condition. A bone marrow biopsy may have supported this finding. Haemotalogical findings in another female set, 60 with a long history of anaemia, suggested a tentative diagnosis of Aleukaemic Myelogenous Leukaemia, although clinical evidence to support this classification was absent. A number of ante-natal blood samples have been tested at the Blood Group Reference Laboratory, London, for the Rhesus factors, as a pre¬ cautionary measure. Complete glucose tolerance curves on new cases to determine the severity and type, and single blood sugar estimations for the periodic check on dia¬ betics have increased this year because of the fuller control established in treatment. In October, preparations were completed for commencing the highly technical complement fixation tests and the Kahn standard agglutination reaction. Following four weeks trial controls with the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene Laboratories, London, on identical samples and known positive and negative sera, our results were satisfactory with a 100% agreement. Our technique was therefore considered to be of a standard high enough to merit its adoption, and these important tests are now a weekly routine procedure here. Besides providing earlier results, a very considerable financial saving is gained. General laboratory examinations appertaining to the Venereal Diseases has shown a marked rise.
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