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17
a scourge of mankind to a rarity. The improvement is well shown in the diagram, and
once again it may be pointed out that the rate of improvement at ages under 15 years
began to accelerate as soon as the immunisation campaign commenced in the early
1940's, but that the rate of improvement over the age of 15 years improved only in
1946, by which time a substantial number of those immunised in school had passed into
this age group. In looking at this diagram it must be remembered that the logarithmic
scale tends to obscure the full measure of achievement. The number of cases in 1941
was more than a hundred times that met with in 1952.
DIPHTHERIA — AGE INCIDENCE
NOTIFICATIONS PER 1,000 LIVING IN AGE GROUPS
The number of deaths from diarrhoea and enteritis under two years of age (43) was
one lower than in 1951. A notable feature was the fact that 10 of the 43 deaths from this
cause occurred during the month of December, during the period that the general
mortality rate was greatly increased as a result of the cold fog. A study of the death
certificates of the enteritis deaths in December showed that nearly all the infants were
b*
Diarrhoea and
enteritis