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POLIOMYELITIS
The Minister of Health introduced new regulations on Poliomyelitis
which came into force on the 1st January, 1950.
These regulations split acute Poliomyelitis into two sections,
paralytic and non-paralytic, and brought acute Polioencephalitis under the
heading of acute Poliomyelitis.
During the year, 29 suspect cases of Poliomyelitis were admitted to
hospital, Of these, 6 cases were confirmed as suffering from paralytic
Poliomyelitis, and 5 cases confirmed as suffering from non-paralytic
Poliomyelitis. One case, a woman of 45 years, suffering from paralytic
Poliomyelitis, died a few days after admission to a Fever Hospital,
Of the total number of cases, 4 occurred in children under 5 years,
4 occurred in children of school age, and the remaining 3 cases were persons
over school age.
An enquiry was made in each case as to whether the patient had
been immunised against Diphtheria and/or Whooping Cough within the previous
30 days of the date of onset of the disease, but none of the cases had been
immunised within that period.
Graph comparing 1949/1950 outbreaks