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8
INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES
Notifiable infectious disease remained at a reasonablylow
level during the year. Of the 1,235 notifications received,
829 were of measles. Of the non-notifiable illnesses influenza
became prevalent in September, The exact number cases is
not known but It was apparent that a high percentage of the
population was affected during the next few months. I give
below some details of the individual diseases.
Dysentery. The number of cases of dysentery was lower than for
several years, and of the 26 cases notified 15 were due to the
Sonne organism, 2 to Flexner and 9 were unspecified. Pour
family outbreaks were responsible for 10 of the cases - three
cases occurring in each of 2 families and 2 cases also in each
of 2 families. Altogether 15 children and 11 adults were
notified.
Encephalitis. (Acute Infective.) Very little information was
obtainable concerning the single case of this disease . The
notification was received over 2 months after the onset of the
illness, the patient being a doctor on the staff of a local
hospital.
Erysipelas. Thirteen cases were notified. They occurred mainly
In the higher age groups, only 2 (10 years and 24 years) were
below the age of 40. Eight of the cases were facial erysipelas.
Malaria . A foreign student who had only been In this country a
short time was notified as suffering from malaria . The Infection
had been contracted before arrival here.
Measles. Measles tends to recur in epidemic proportions periodically
the interval being frequently but not invariably 2 years.
There were 829 cases of measles, a figure lower than the two
previous epidemics of 1953 and 1955 (1186 and 1028). The first
7 weeks of the year produced only 39 cases but there were a
further 193 cases before the end of March. In April the number
of weekly cases averaged 50 and the peak number 70, was reached
In the first week of May. The epidemic then gradually subsided
and the last week In August produced no cases at all.
Generally speaking, the epidemic was not severe and
was of short duration. The percentage of cases removed to
hospital was 2.4 per cent, an extremely low figure.