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Pneumonia
The 1,502 notifications of pneumonia in 1954 was the smallest number ever recorded.
As only acute primary and acute influenzal pneumonia are notifiable, the notifications
can only be a small proportion of the total number of cases of pneumonia which occur:
even so there is good reason to believe that the disease is substantially under-notified.
In view of the low incidence of influenza in 1954 there is, at first sight, nothing unexpected
in the low figure of pneumonia notification. Consideration of the notifications over
many years shown in Table 10 on page 224 does, however, raise the possibility of a
gradual trend towards less complete notifications through the years.
Poliomyelitis
The number of notifications of poliomyelitis during the year was 125. Since the first
large epidemic in 1947 there have been three years, viz., 1948, 1951 and 1954 which
stand out from other years by reason of comparatively low incidence. Incidence showed
the usual seasonal pattern and once again the 5-14 age group differed from other ages in
having an excess of non-paralytic cases. As a result of this the excess of paralytic cases
in other age groups is greater than would appear from perusal of the total figures at all
ages.
Roughly a third of the notifications occurred in each of the three main age groups.
Age No. %
0-4 42 33.6
5-14 41 32.8
15+ 42 33.6
Total 125 100.0
The variations in the proportion of notifications falling in the 0-4 age group in
recent years are seen in the following table.
Year Percentage of
notifications
in the 0-4
age group
1947 27.9
1948 33.3
1949 53.3
1950 34.9
1951 24.1
1952 30.7
1953 35.0
1954 33.6
Trials of a vaccine for the prevention of poliomyelitis carried out in the U.S.A. have
been watched with great interest. The prospect of being able to prevent this disease,
despite the mishaps which attended the administration of the California-prepared
vaccine, appears distinctly brighter.
Rheumatic
fever
Deaths in London from rheumatic fever in 1954 were 21, of which 4 were children
under 15. Account must also be taken of all deaths under 45 years assigned to heart
disease, since, apart from deaths due to congenital heart disease, the vast majority of
these deaths are rheumatic in origin. The following Table shows the distribution of
heart disease deaths of persons under 45 years, according to age, in recent years :
Deaths from heart disease under 45 years
Year 0-4 5-14 15-44 Total Rate per 1,000 living (0-44)
1947 1 11 398 410 0.197
1948 1 9 338 348 0.167
1949 5 3 350 358 0.172
1950 — 4 379 383 0.184
1951 1 1 338 340 0.156
1952 2 4 316 322 0.149
1953 2 4 273 279 0.130
1954 2 3 275 280 0.133
Under the age of 15 the number of deaths is so small that considerable fluctuation
must be expected from random causes.
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