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INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Notifications of infectious diseases for the years 1954-63 are shown in table V.5,
page 21, those for certain such diseases by age and sex for the 13 four-weekly periods of the
year 1963 are given in table V.6, page 22 and deaths from infectious diseases are included
in table V.3, page 19.
Diarrhoea and enteritis—There were 31 deaths under the age of two years from diarrhoea
and enteritis, this being a higher figure than that reported in 1962. A high proportion of
the deaths from this condition were associated with concurrent infections of the respiratory
tract.
Diphtheria—The diphtheria-free record of 1962 was not repeated in 1963; there were 14
notifications during the year. Two small outbreaks of the now familiar pattern occurred
in Islington and Southwark. Energetic measures applied locally soon brought the disease
under control. Nowadays, when diphtheria infection is normally absent from the community,
it is reasonable to assume that such outbreaks as do occur result from importation
of infection from elsewhere. It is often difficult to decide for certain who was responsible
for beginning an outbreak, but it is of interest that the circumstances of one of the 1963
outbreaks strongly suggested that infection had been introduced from abroad.
Dysentery—There were 4,917 notifications of dysentery compared with 2,814 in 1962.
The highest incidence of the disease was in the months of February and March and the
lowest in the autumn, this being the usual seasonal pattern. Once again the highest attack
rate was in pre-school children. The overwhelming majority of notified cases are of mild
Sonne dysentery, which has a low fatality rate. Six deaths from dysentery were registered,
mostly these were the result of amoebic dysentery contracted abroad.
Enteric fever—No local outbreaks of typhoid or para-typhoid fever were reported, although
a number of single sporadic cases occurred. A high proportion of cases reported had been
infected on holiday abroad, some during the outbreak of typhoid fever in Zermatt,
Switzerland.
Influenza—Once again the number of deaths from influenza (161) was about the average
encountered in non-epidemic years.
Leptospirosis—For the seventh successive year there was no case of leptospirosis reported
among the Council's sewer workers.
Measles—1963 was an epidemic year, the highest incidence being as usual in the first
four months of the year. The mildness of this disease in recent years is well shown by the
fact that during the 1963 epidemic of over 29,000 notified cases (plus an unknown but
considerable number of un-notified cases) there were only two deaths.
Ophthalmia neonatorum—The number of notifications fell from 188 in 1962 to 96 in 1963
and the rate per 1,000 live births fell from 2.62 to 1.31. The number of cases among children
born to London residents was 69; in 64 cases vision was unimpaired and there was no
information about the remaining five who had moved from the area.
Poliomyelitis—Three cases were notified during the year, one paralytic and two nonparalytic.
Clinical and laboratory reports served to exclude the diagnosis of poliomyelitis
in the two non-paralytic notifications and to confirm the diagnosis in the paralytic case,
making a total of one paralytic case of poliomyelitis in 1963. The single confirmed case
was a male aged 34 years who had quite severe paralysis following an infection with type 3
poliomyelitis virus. He had not been vaccinated against poliomyelitis.
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