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to bronchitis or broncho-pneumonia. The "common cold" is a
tine wasting and debilitating enough experience for adults.
In the case of young infants serious illness often results from
carcless exposure to the family cold, causing frequently a
tendency to chronic chest trouble, even if the baby recovers.
Parents and all attending young infants should treat "colds"
seriously, and by isolation, wearing masks which can be easily
improvised, arid similar measures do all they can to prevent
babies getting colds.
The death of two babies from 'drowning during the year
also emphasises the need for the more general use of those, safety
straps which are really effective. These too can be easily
improvised and details can be obtained from the Health Visitors
and similar sources.
The neo-natal mortality rate (i.e. deaths in the first
month per thousand live births) was 31 compared with 36 in 1941,
32 in 1940 and 29 in 1939.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
The table given below of the number of cases of
infectious disease notified curing the year appears at the first
glance to suggest that 1942 was the worst year experienced in
this District, especially when compared with the years between
1919 and 1940. The inclusion of measles and to a lesser degree
whooping cough among the notifiable infectious diseases during
the war period has produced total numbers which are out of all
proportion to the remaining infectious diseases and therefore
rather misleading.
Excluding these two diseases, the number of cases
notified was 107 less than in 1941, which number represents
almost exactly the reduction in the cases of dysentery. As
the dysentery cases all occurred in the two mental hospitals
they can be disregarded in assessing the health of the general
public. The nett number of notifications excluding measles,
whooping cough, hospital dysentery and tuberculosis was only
slightly above that for 1938 and apart from that year, was the
best recorded since 1932.
When the population at risk is considered the
position is seen to have been even more satisfactory, the number
of notifications per 1,000 population having only once (in 1938)
been better.

Includes deaths from all forms of Pneumonia.