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DEATHS FROM DIARRHOEA AND ENTERITIS (under two years)
Diphtheria
For the second successive year there were no deaths in London from diphtheria.
There were only 4 confirmed notifications of the disease, compared with 11 in 1953
and 18 in 1952. This almost complete freedom from diphtheria during the year is the
fruits of the immunisation campaign begun in 1940. In 1939 there were 3,671 (uncorrected)
notifications of diphtheria in London and 98 deaths—the contrast with the
present state of affairs is obvious from the figures. The scale of the diagram set out on
page 19 was chosen to demonstrate the rate of change from year to year. It can be seen
that there was an abrupt increase in the rate of improvement in the immunised age groups
(0-14 years) after 1941 as a result of the immunisation campaign and that the rate of
improvement was steady in subsequent years. In a County as large as London, with large
numbers of migrants passing through each year, the possibility of imported infection is
always present, and efforts to keep the level of immunisation as high as possible must be
maintained. The present low level of incidence of this disease, together with the possibility
of imported infection, means that while the present low figures do not justify
complacency, a small fluctuation upwards need not cause undue alarm.
Dysentery
The figure of 4,268 notifications of dysentery was the highest ever recorded. The
epidemic was already beginning in the new year and came to its peak in April. Once
again the heaviest incidence was among children of pre-school age but there was a
slightly increased proportion among schoolchildren compared with last year.
Dysentery is often associated in the public mind with food infections, but it should
be noted that food-borne outbreaks are at present very uncommon, and there is no
evidence that the heavy incidence of recent years is due to food infection.
In May, 1952, the Joint Committee of the Borough Medical Officers of Health and
the Medical Officer of Health of the London County Council approved the proposals
of a sub-committee for an investigation into Sonne dysentery. The investigation in
which all the borough medical officers co-operated with the staff of the Department
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