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5 years. As might have been expected the corresponding figure in respect of children
of school age was higher, viz., 61 per cent. The influence of school as a source of
infection appeared to become slightly greater as the epidemic progressed.
All types of direct contact that were brought to light during the survey are
detailed in Table C. A possible origin for about half the cases was discovered.

It was noteworthy that school and home contact accounted for only 37 per cent.
of the infections in children under five. The major risk to this group appeared to
be the unknown and presumably casual type of contact. This might perhaps be
partly explained by the fact that children of this age tended to spend most of the
day with the mother and therefore encounter a wide variety of casual and unknown
contacts.
Infectious
disease in
schools
The number of cases of infectious disease reported from schools in 1951 and in
other years is shown in Table 14 (page 148). The year 1951 was an epidemic year for
German measles. A rise occurred in the incidence of ringworm. The downward
trend of scabies already noted is shown in the school figures. There was, however,
a slight rise in the incidence of impetigo. The incidence of scarlet fever was lower
than in 1950. Whooping cough was also less prevalent in the schools than in the
previous year. The incidence of chicken-pox was abnormal. There was a very
heavy epidemic of measles during the year (see above, page 21). Cases of mumps
were less numerous than in 1950. The rise in ophthalmia and conjunctivitis prevalence
was confined to a few schools in one division.
Tuberculosis
Detailed figures of new cases of tuberculosis notified in 1951 are shown in
Tables 10 to 13 (pages 146 to 149). Non-civilians are included in the statistics and
total (home) populations are used.
The general trend of morbidity and mortality since 1921 is indicated in Table 10
(page 146) and is also illustrated by the diagram below. The consistent decline in
deaths and notifications during the inter-war years was substantial. New cases of
pulmonary disease were reported at the rate of 2.1 per 1,000 living in 1920 and only
1.3 per 1,000 in 1938, a fall of about 40 per cent. in just under 20 years. During 1938
the death-rate from pulmonary disease was 0.64 per 1,000, i.e., about 40 per cent.
lower than in 1920; a saving of some 1,600 deaths annually at the 1938 population
level. In the earlier years of the war the upsetting of the balance between input and
output of energy, the general deterioration in living conditions, the strain placed upon