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Leptospirosis
The precautions taken against leptospirosis by the sewer workers in the Chief
Engineer s department continued to work smoothly. One case occurred during the
year.
Measles
The year 1955 was the second and principal year of a biennial cycle of measles. ]
The epidemic had been gaining momentum during the last part of 1954 and rose to its
maximum at the end of the first quarter of 1955. During the 13th week over 4,000
cases were notified, this being more than in any other week since notification of measles
began. However the total of notifications during the year (49,110) was slightly lower
than the record figure of 49,148 registered in 1951. There were 15 deaths frotn measles
during the year, which is an improvement upon the figure of 25 deaths in the comparable
year of 1951. The remarkable fall in mortality from this disease compared with conditions
twenty years or more ago is partly due to the introduction of improved treatment
of complications, particularly of pneumonia, and partly due to a reduction in the
severity of measles itself during the period, which has resulted in comparatively low
incidence of comnlications.
Meningococcal
infections
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 22 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.
Fifty-nine of the corrected notifications were of children under the age of five years.
Of the 14 deaths in children under five years of age, seven were less than a year old.

Ophthalmia
neonatorum
The incidence ot 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 106 cases in 1955 (2-1 per 1,000 live births) in 94 of
which the mother was a resident of the County of London ; full details of the latter
are shown below :
Number of cases
Notified during the year
Removed to hospital for special treatment
Domiciliary
confinements
Institutional
confinements
Total
32 62 94
4 17 21
Of the 94 cases, vision was unimpaired in 84, two of the babies died, three were
under treatment at the end of the year and the remaining five moved from the County.
^neumonia
The 1,903 notifications of pneumonia in 1955 represent a rise over the very low
figure of 1,502 in 1954, but the figure is not unduly high compared with the figures
of recent years. It is difficult to know exactly what the significance of this figure is, as
only acute primary pneumonia and acute influenzal pneumonia are notifiable and it is
thought that even these conditions are substantially under-notified. One may hope
however that the thoroughness with which these conditions are notified remains fairly
constant from year to year and that variations in the annual figures may disclose the
existence, if not the actual magnitude, of variations in the incidence of severe respiratory
infections.
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