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16
INFECTIVE DISEASES.
The number of deaths from notifiable infective diseases,
including all forms of Tuberculosis, was 302, compared with 296
in 1939. There were also 62 deaths from Influenza, but there
were only 10 deaths from Scarlet fever, Diphtheria, Measles and
Whooping cough. The death-rate from all infectious diseases
was 134 per 1,000.
Table III. gives the number of cases of the notifiable infective
diseases reported, arranged in age groups and showing for each
disease how many were admitted to hospital.
There has been a marked reduction during the year in the
incidence of the notifiable infective diseases. The number of
cases of these diseases has fallen from 3,600 in 1939 to 1,649 in
1940, a reduction of more than half. This reduction has been
chiefly evident in the infectious diseases of childhood and to a
certain extent has been brought about by the evacuation of large
numbers of children to reception areas in the country. The
number of cases of diphtheria has fallen from 249 to 165, scarlet
fever from 535 to 195, whooping cough from 1,599 to 48 and
erysipelas from 102 to 58. On the other hand, cases of measles
have increased from 149 to 230 and cerebro-spinal meningitis
from 11 to 74.
Small-pox. No case of small-pox occurred during the
year.
Vaccination. 2,202 births were notified to the Vaccination
Officers during 1939. 918 children were vaccinated successfully
and 666 were exempted under declarations of conscientious
objection. The percentage of children vaccinated to total births
was 41.6.
Diphtheria. 165 cases occurred, compared with 249 in
1939 and 479 in 1938. There were seven deaths compared with
two in 1939, and 15 in 1938. The death-rate was .03 and the
case mortality was 4.2 per cent,