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17
immunised. During 1949 the rates have continued their rapid decline although the
degree of artificial immunisation at school ages having reached 75 per cent. has
tended to become stabilised.
DIPHTHERIA — AGE INCIDENCE
NOTIFICATIONS PER 1,000 LIVING IN AGE GROUPS
There were 9 deaths from diphtheria in London in 1949. Detailed reports show
that none had been previously immunised.
It cannot be too strongly emphasised that the maintenance of this good progress
depends upon the co-operation of the public in sustaining and even increasing still
further the rate of immunisation; great efforts must be made not only to ensure
that there is no falling off in the existing proportion immunised but also to convince
those parents who have not yet decided to come within the scheme that to leave
their children unprotected is to invite the return of those tragedies which, only ten
years ago, occurred with such appalling and needless frequency. In 1939 there were
over two thousand confirmed cases of diphtheria in London and 98 deaths. A note
on the connection between poliomyelitis and immunisation will be found on page 61.
Diarrhoea
and
enteritis
The mortality from diarrhoea and enteritis under two years of age (98 deaths)
amounted to 1.73 per 1,000 live births, compared with 2.69 in the previous year
The following diagram shows the trend of mortality in London and England and
Wales in recent years. Ten years ago the London rate was twice as great as the
national rate. It now appears that the difference between the London rate and the
average for the country as a whole is small but favourable to London, and that both