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15
Diphtheria.
There was one case of diphtheria in an unimmunised girl aged
four years. Fortunately she made an uninterrupted recovery and
no secondary case occurred. It might well have been a different
story and the need for immunisation of the susceptible population
is still as great as ever. Many parents who have never seen or
heard of a case of diphtheria fail to appreciate the value of
immunisation, but those persons who have seen the victims of
diphtheria both during the course of the disease and the often
protracted convalescence need no persuading as to its worth.
Scarlet Fever.
156 cases of this disease were notified, and there were no
deaths. Nowadays it is a mild disease and very many of the cases
are nursed at home, but in 1870, for example, it was responsible
for 479 deaths in the Parish of Lambeth. That year happened to
be a rather exceptional one, but the annual deaths from this
disease about that time were almost always in three figures.
Whooping Cough.
There were 345 notifications of this disease and one death
of a female infant of six months Whooping Oough is particularly
dangerous in children under one year, and such fatalities as do
occur arepractically confined to this age group. It may, however,
be serious in the older infants as it can give rise to much
chronic ill-health.
Measles.
As indicated in the introduction to this section of the report
measles was the most prevalent infectious disease in the year.
Thiswasdue to the commencement of the expected epidemic in the
latter part of the year. During the year 571 cases were notified,
but no deaths from this disease were recorded.
Poliomyelitis.
Poliomyelitis is a disease which has been occuring with
increasing frequency in the past few years. It is probably one
of theprices that has to be paid forprogress and the establishment
of better standards of living. The paralytic stageof the disease