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SECTION E
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
The total number of corrected notifications of infectious disease during
1954 was 494 which was considerably less than the figure for the previous year
and mainly due to the reduction in the number of cases of measles which were
notified.
Diphtheria.
One case of diphtheria was notified during the year. The diagnosis was
confirmed clinically but not bacteriologically and on investigation it was not
possible to trace the source of infection.
This was the only case of diphtheria confirmed in the Borough for three
years and there is no doubt that this result has been achieved by the success of
the immunisation campaign. There is however a tendency amongst members of the
public to regard immunisation as of less importance now that cases of diphtheria
are rare and it cannot be too strongly stressed that if a new generation grows
up which has not been protected either by immunisation or as in the bad old days
by actually contracting the disease there is a real danger of an epidemic of the
proportions experienced in May 1934 when there were 650 cases in the Borough
which caused 22 deaths and a very considerable amount of pain and suffering.
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