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There is a gratifying fall in the incidence of Scarlet Fever
for the year 1950 and it is particularly gratifying to be able to
record that the incidence in a particular Ward has fallen to normal
proportions. It will be remembered that last year the possibility
of one of our schools in that area being the avenue for the
dissemination of the infection was under careful consideration.
It will also be remembered that I drew attention to the fact
that in that school there were 12 cases of Scarlet Fever actually
in the school at the stage of the rash, which is at least two days
after the infection, and I then pointed out that it was useless for
us to institute a search for obscure sources of infection such as
carriers while such an obvious source persisted. I am happy to
be able to state that analysis of the records for this year shows
that there were only two cases. One child was still sent to school
with obviously recognisable Scarlet Fever, and none of these
cases were in that particular school.
Measles. There were 523 cases of Measles during the year.
This year should not have been a year of prevalence if the disease
had maintained its biennial character, but as was pointed out
last year, this phenomena has largely disappeared and a high
incidence has been kept up for the past 10 years, as reference to
the table below will clearly show. The disease has been mild
and there have been no deaths.