Return cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria : reports and papers relative to the Board's inquiries / Metropolitan Asylums Board.

  • Metropolitan Asylums Board (London, England)
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Return cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria : reports and papers relative to the Board's inquiries / Metropolitan Asylums Board. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    (i.) That in each hospital a couple of wards identical in respect to cubic space per bed, &c., should be set aside and administered on a different principle, the sex of the children being the same, and the age as far as possible; that in one ward the cases subject to mucous discharges from nose or ear be rigorously excluded: that immediately on the appearance of any such discharge the patient should be removed; and that all nozzles of syringes should be kept in antiseptic solutions. In the other ward no special attention should be paid to these discharges other than that hitherto adopted. The incidence of either rhinorrhoea or otorrhoea should be compared. Cases of “ septic scarlet fever ” should be excluded from both. (ii.) That, if possible, in certain hospitals, with the approval of the medical superintendents, two or more rooms previously disinfected, be reserved for the isolation after six or eight weeks’ detention, of single patients who are suffering from rhinorrhoea or otorrhoea, but whose desquamation is completed. Each patient so secluded should be kept for 10 days or a fortnight before returning home. During this period of detention the affected parts should be regularly irrigated or syringed with some reliable antiseptic, and great care should be taken that the nozzle of the apparatus be kept in a germicidal solution. On the expiration of the quarantine the patient should be sent home whether the discharge has ceased or not, and the room should be disinfected prior to the reception of another patient. The subsequent history of the case should be investigated. (iii.) That the inquiry into the facts connected with the incidence of return cases at the Managers’ hospitals should be continued for a further period of 12 months, and that the scope of the inquiry should include the history of the cases discharged under the conditions mentioned. (Signed) W. S. CHURCH, President. The medical superintendents of the several hospitals have been authorised, provided the efficiency of their hospitals is in no way impaired, to carry out the suggestions contained in recommendations (i.) and (ii.). As regards recommendation (iii.), the Hospitals Committee have in con- templation arrangements for the continuance of the investigation for a further period. In the meantime, the Metropolitan Asylums Board publish these papers in the belief that they will be found of value by all interested in the important questions arising out of the isolation of the infectious sick. Head Office of the Board, Emjjankment, E.C., January, 1901.
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