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27 to 28 times as great as among the immunised " (a). Of 1,273 notifications, no
fewer than 351 were of persons over 15 years of age.
The incidence of dysentery continues to increase. Figures for recent years are:-
Year Notifications Deaths
1940 161 14
1941 610 33
1942 749 34
1943 1,103 14
1944 1,558 20
1945 2,082 16
Dysentery
Many outbreaks occur in institutions in which patients are infirm or in low mental
health, who cannot be expected to maintain clean habits, and among whom therefore
the disease can rapidly spread, but too many cases occur among other members
of the public. These would be prevented if the simple rules of hygiene were observed.
The mortality from diarrhoea and enteritis under two years of age (318 deaths)
amounted to 6.98 per thousand live births, compared with 9.58 in the previous year.
This represents a return to the level of mortality experienced in 1940-41. The
diagram on page 10 shows the trend of mortality in London and England and Wales
in recent years.
Diarrhœa and
enteritis
It appears that the gap between the London rate and the average for the country
as a whole is again closing.
Notifications of fevers of the enteric group (45) were more numerous than in Enteric
1944 (38), but there were only 3 deaths, representing a mortality-rate of 0.001 per fevers
thousand—one hundredth of the rate experienced at the beginning of the century.

(a) Ministry of Health circular.