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34
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
Diphtheria.
During the year 161 cases of Diphtheria were notified and
there were 23 deaths from the disease.
In last year's annual report a detailed account was given of
a most virulent outbreak of Diphtheria which broke out in September,
1932, and the epidemic which caused the deaths in the early part
of 1933 was a continuation of the 1932 outbreak. Although an
arbitrary period has been taken for annual reports, an account of
the outbreak in one year would be incomplete. I am therefore
giving a table showing the notifications and deaths from September,
1932.
Date. Notifications. Deaths.
1932 September. 17 3
October 33 4
November 48 9
December ] 7 2
1933 January 29 3
February 17 7
March 26 4
April 15 3
May 19 2
June 17 2
July 13 0
August 4 0
September 4 0
October 7 0
November 2 0
December 7 1
In last year's report a table was given showing the incidence
of the disease since 1890 and from that table it will be seen that there
have been irregular periods of minimum and maximum prevalence.
The last period of maximum prevalence was in 1920-1921 and 1922
and followed a period of a comparatively low incidence of only
4 years. The outbreak of 1932 followed a very low period of minimum
prevalence of 9 years, and it was reasonable to conclude that
the period of maximum prevalence would be a prolonged one. It
appears as far as can at present be predicted, that the period of
maximum prevalence has been very considerably shortened. The
only change in the attack upon the disease has been the introduction
of artificial active immunisation of the children, and so far, the re-