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32
Infectious Diseases.
Incidence.—The number of cases of infectious
diseases notified during 1926 was 5,292, compared
with 2,199 in 1925 and 3,256 in 1924.
The cause of the increase was the prevalence of
measles, which accounted for 3,700 of the notifications,
whereas in the year 1925 the latter numbered 589.
The notifications of diphtheria increased from 276 in
1925 to 345 in 1926, but there was a considerable
decrease in the number of cases of scarlet fever, which
fell from 398 in 1925 to 311 in 1926. The notifications
of influenzal and primary pneumonia fell from 320
in 1925 to 288 in 1926, and this corresponded with a
marked diminution in the deaths from all forms of
pneumonia.
Regarding the three notifiable infectious diseases of
the nervous system, encephalitis lethargica (sleepy
sickness), acute polio-myelitis (infantile paralysis) and
cerebro-spinal fever (so-called spotted fever), all three
showed an increase in the notifications. Twelve cases
of encephalitis lethargica were notified compared with
10 in 1925. Seven patients were notified as suffering
from acute polio-myelitis, as compared with three
during the previous year, and cerebro-spinal meningitis
contributed four cases, an increase of one over the
number for 1925. Typhoid or enteric fever accounted
for eight of the notifications, against 10 during 1925.
Mortality from Infectious Diseases.—Measles caused
47 deaths during 1926 and only two during 1925.
Whooping-cough, although not a notifiable disease,
is infectious, and therefore belongs to the same class
as the cases under discussion. During 1925 this
disease was very prevalent, causing 35 deaths, but
in 1926 only six deaths were due to this disease. The
deaths due to diphtheria increased from 11 in 1925
to 14 in 1926, and those due to scarlet fever increased
from three to four. All the cases of typhoid and
paratyphoid fever which occurred in 1925 and 1926
recovered, and there were also no deaths from infantile