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INCIDENCE AND DEATHS FROM DIPHTHERIA
Although the death rate was comparatively small in relation
to the large number of cases, diphtheria is a crippling disease and
leaves a trail of damage to heart, etc., in its wake.
The population today is approximately seven times that of
1890, and but for immunisation the cases of diphtheria might also
be seven times greater in today's population, giving a five-year
figure of almost 1,000 cases.
The dramatic fall, which started in 1936, was the result of a
tremendous immunisation campaign which grew in momentum
until by the 1940's practically every child up to school-leaving age
had been immunised. It is a matter of great satisfaction that, in
this Borough, even today there is no falling off in the immunisation
rate for diphtheria.