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was of unusually small proportions. Deaths in recent years have been :
Year Influenza deaths
1943 726
1944 206
1945 171
1946 371
1947 284
1948 78
1949 372
1950 256
1951 809
1952 162
1953 514
1954 83
The incidence of Leptospirosis in the general population is not known accurately.
It is known, however, that the majority of cases occurs in adult men engaged in mining
or on sewer work where the infection originates from rats. One case of the disease
occurred during the year among the sewer workers directly under the supervision of
the Chief Engineer's Department.
Leptospirosis
The year 1954 being the first of the biennial cycle, incidence of measles was low
during the early part of the year. It rose during the summer, and after the customary
autumn depression rose steeply during the last part of the year. At the turn of the year
incidence was building up to the epidemic peak in early 1955, during which a higher
weekly total of notifications was registered than in any previous year since notification
began in 1939. The fatality rate of measles has declined considerably in recent years
and during the year there were only two deaths from this disease.
Measles
The incidence of meningococcal infections was again at about the usual interepidemic
level at which it has been since the end of the war. There was, as usual, a
slight increase in incidence in the Spring but, apart from this, cases were fairly evenly
spread both in time and geographically, with no sign of local epidemics. The 28 deaths
from meningococcal infection place this disease in an unenviable light when compared
with the smaller figures for the other notifiable infectious diseases, but this is largely
due to the great reduction in mortality from some of the other infectious fevers in
recent years. There is good evidence to show that most of the deaths from meningococcal
infection are the result of septicaemic and haemorrhagic attacks in infancy which have
always been a formidable therapeutic problem.
Meningococcal
infections
Sixty-two notifications were or children under the age or five years. of the 19
deaths in children under five years of age, 10 were less than a year old.
The ratio of notifications to deaths at various ages was as follows :
Age Deaths Notifications Deaths as percentage of notifications
0-4 years 19 62 32.2
5-14 years 3 15 20.0
Over 14 vears 6 9 21.4
The incidence of ophthalmia neonatorum which, since 1921, had remained fairly
constant between 8 and 10 new cases per 1,000 live births, commenced to fall slightly
towards the end of the period 1931-40, and in recent years, has fallen to between 2 and 4
per 1,000 live births. There were 112 cases in 1954 (2.2 per 1,000 live births) of which
101 were those where the mother was a resident of the County of London ; full details
of the latter are shown below :
Ophthalmia
neonatorum
Ophthalmia neonatorum
Number of cases Domiciliary confinements Institutional confinements Total
Notified during the year 45 56 101
Removed to hospital for special treatment 10 — 10
Of the 101 cases, vision was unimpaired in 94 cases at the end of the year and the
remaining 7 had removed from the county.
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