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General
16

* Now includes pneumonia of the new born.
Infectious diseases
The attack rates and death-rates of the principal infectious diseases in London during
1951 and earlier years, and for the constituent metropolitan boroughs in 1952, are shown
in Tables 2, 3 and 14. In order to preserve uniformity with national statistics the
notification figures used in this section of the report have been corrected as far as possible
to take account of changes of diagnosis made after the original notifications had been
received (see footnote to Table 14). Table 15 has not previously appeared in these
reports ; it shows, in age groups, the distribution over the weeks of the year of the
notifications of the following—dysentery, measles, meningococcal infection, pneumonia,
poliomyelitis, scarlet fever and whooping cough. It should be noted that the totals
in this Table, being for 53 weekly periods and not adjusted for final late corrections of
diagnosis, will not correspond with the yearly corrected totals in Table 14.
Anthrax
There were no notifications of anthrax during 1952.
Dysentery
Although the number of notifications was considerably less than the record total of
4,069 in 1951, the level of 1,704 notifications recorded in 1952 has been exceeded in only
two previous years, viz., 1945 and 1951. As in recent years the highest incidence was in
the months of February, March and April, this being a characteristic which distinguishes
this type of infection from the main group of intestinal infections which are commonest
in the summer and autumn. Sonne dysentery, unlike the other intestinal infections, is
spread only very rarely by infected food ; personal contact appears to be the most
important factor in spread.
In the report for 1951 mention was made of the fact that the proportion of notifications
in the 5-14 years age group had increased. This year there has been very little
change in the proportion of notifications falling in the different age groups. The disease
continues to be most frequent in nursery groups, but outbreaks in schools and establishments
for elderly persons have also been encountered.
With the co-operation of the medical officers of health of the metropolitan boroughs
an investigation was begun during the year into the social and environmental circumstances
of all notified cases, and into the efficacy of different methods of control of
institutional outbreaks.
Diphtheria
During the year there were only 18 confirmed notifications or diphtheria, compared
with 30 in 1951. As in the previous year there were two deaths, the only one under 15
years of age being of an unimmunised child.
The continuation in the decline in incidence of diphtheria can be attributed to the
immunisation campaign, which has transformed the disease in little over ten years from