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From the above it would appear that cases are more frequently reported in women
than in men. A female excess is also observed in dysentery.
Influenza

The last major outbreak was in the early months of 1951. By the end of December,
1952, there were signs that a considerable spread of influenza was beginning, but the
weight of the epidemic fell after the year had ended.
Leptospirosis
Arrangements that have been in operation for many years for the ascertainment and
treatment of leptospirosis among the Council's sewer workers have continued. Since
the end of the war, with the resumption of building work in the sewers, there has been
a slight increase in the frequency of these infections from the unusually low incidence
during the war years. The figure of six confirmed infections during 1952 is comparable
with the average figure during the years just before the war. Occasional sporadic cases
in the general public associated with river bathing continue to occur.
Measles
The year saw the gradual rise in incidence of measles which culminated in the peak
during the early months of 1953, interrupted by the customary fall in incidence during
the autumn. The total number of notifications during the year, 31,055, was higher
than in any year in the corresponding stage of the biennial cycle since the end of the war.
Case fatality remains at a low level, due partly to the use of sulphonamides and antibiotics
in the prevention and treatment of complications, and partly to the mildness
of the prevalent disease.
Meningococcal
infections
Incidence was at about the same level as in recent years. No part of the year was
free from the disease, although incidence was as usual higher in the spring than at other
times. Notifications were spread widely through the County without any localised
concentration.
51 notifications (54.5 per cent.) were in children under the age of five years, the
disease becoming steadily less frequent with increasing age. As in previous years, the
highest case mortality rates were found at the extremes of age, this rate being particularly
high in infants under the age of one year. Of 24 deaths in children under five
years of age, 18 were less than a year old.