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-6DYSENTERY.
A total of 121 notifications of Dysentery were
received, all being from the mental hospitals, 40 from one and
8l from the other. In both hospitals the disease was of a
mild type the causal organism being Flexner's dysentery
bacillus. The 40 cases at one hospital were all of Type X
and were limited to the first 6 months of the year. All the
cases at- the other hospital were of Type Z, many being very
mild and only suffering from slight diarrhoea. Here too
the number of cases was diminishing in the second half of the
year.
PUERPERAL FEVER.
Two cases of Puerperal Fever were notified, one being
a mild case and the other, which was admitted tc hospital, a
serious one. A further unnotified case was admitted to
Hospital where both cases recovered.
ACUTE POLIOMYELITIS.
There were three cases of this disease notified during
the year, one occurring in April and the others in September and
December. The first was diagnosed and treated at home, being a
very mild case. The others wore admitted to isolation hospital
and subsequently to Orthopaedic Hospitals for special treatment.
Only slight permanent paralysis resulted in these two cases.
CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS.
Only one case was notified during the year compared with
six in 1941. The patient, who was an adult male, was admitted
to hospital and recovered.
PNEUMONIA.
There were 38 notifications of cases of acute primary or
influenzal pneumonia compared with 32 in 1941 and an average of
25 for the preceding 5 years. Five of the cases were patients
in one of the mental hospitals and eight in the other mental
hospital, leaving 25 cases among the general population, compared
with 10 in 1941, One case was admitted to the Isolation
Hospital.
MEASLES.
There were 479 notifications of Measles received under
the Measles-and Whooping' Cough Notifications Order 1940, this
being more than twice the number notified in 1941 (214) and
Slightly more than the 468 notified in 1917, which was the peak
year when Measles was notifiable during the last war period.
The population at risk during 1942 was, of course, much greater
than in 1917.
In addition to the 479 cases notified by Doctors there
were many other cases in which a Doctor was not called in, e.g.
from the Public Elementary Schools came a total of 231
notifications. While many of the latter were notified by both
Doctors and Schools, and the school returns included some children
living outside the Urban District, the figure of 479 was
undoubtedly much less than the total number of cases which
occurred in the Urban District. It is considered that this was
in the neighbourhood of 600 cases. Only 5 cases were admitted
to the Infectious Diseases Hospital and no deaths occurred.
The Health Visitors paid 178 first visits .and four revisits,
37 being connected with school children. The number of
visits had to be limited awing to the large numbers of cases
occurring at the same time, (three quarters of the cases occurred
in the three months February - April), attention being given
chiefly to those homes in which children under 3 years were known
to reside, this being the age period at which complications are
most likely to develop.