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On the above basis, the classification of the cases is as follows :—
Fatal Cases Two: this gives a case mortality rate of 6%.
Both fatal cases, one in a boy aged twelve
and the other in a woman aged twentyseven,
had complete paralysis of all the
muscles of respiration.
Very Severe Three cases.
Severe Six Cases.
Moderate Two cases.
Slight Nine cases.
Abortive Eleven cases.
It is hoped that the condition of all the cases with any residual
paralysis will continue to improve as time passes: it is too soon yet
to know what the final degree of disability will be.
All of the cases are under the supervision of Orthopaedic Surgeons
and are receiving appropriate treatment.
General Notes.
Five cases among young people between the ages of fourteen and
twenty had various degrees of weakness of the soft palate and pharyngeal
muscles: in four of these cases, these were the only muscles
affected. Recovery in all these cases has been practically complete.
It was noticeable that in over a third of the cases, one of the initial
symptoms was naso-pharyngeal catarrh : in some cases this symptom
preceded any other symptom by one or two days.
In slightly less than a third of the cases, other contacts in the
homes had had catarrhal attacks of very short duration accompanied
by mild degrees of pyrexia, but none of these contacts showed any
distinctive symptoms of the disease.
Scarlet Fever.
The incidence was low, the number of cases notified being 54
compared with 42 in 1946. The infection was mild in all cases.
Paratyphoid Fever.
Two cases were notified.
Smallpox.
No cases were notified during the year.
1,246 children under one year of age were vaccinated by the
Public vaccinator during the year.
Epidemic Diarrhoea.
This disease becomes notifiable annually during the period 15th
July to 15th October. No cases were notified.
Puerperal Pyrexia.
Twenty-one cases were notified. Of these, eighteen occurred in
the Beckenham & Penge Joint Maternity Hospital, and three in
other institutions.