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25
Scarlet Fever.
On hundred and ninety-six cases were notified, 94 of which were
home-nursed and 102 treated in hospital. This tendency to hospitalise
mild scarlet fever is mainly due to the difficulties associated with the
present housing conditions.
Diphtheria.

Whooping Cough.
Two hundred and thirty cases were notified, giving a rate of 3.1
per 1,000 population. Five cases were admitted to hospital and there
were two deaths. Whooping Cough immunisation is not practised
and has not yet reached a stage of efficiency that can be safely
commended.
Tuberculosis.
Ninety-five primary notifications of tuberculosis were received
during the year, 86 of them being of the lungs and 9 other forms.
The total number on the Tuberculosis Register at the year's end, so
far as local records are concerned, was 913, which gives a rate per
1,000 population of 12.3.
Infantile Paralysis.
A recurrence of infantile paralysis during 1949 indicated a milder
type and less extensive. The General Practitioners are active in the
notification of " probable " cases. Twenty-six cases were notified and
2 others brought to my notice. Of these 28 cases, 14 were home
nursed, 13 of which proved abortive and one with transient paralysis
of the arm. Of the 14 cases admitted direct to Hospital, 7 proved
abortive and of the 7 with paralysis, 2 were polio-encephalitis.
The number of abortive cases gives indication of the difficulty of
diagnosis in the early stages of the disease and although the notification
of these cases inflates the incidence, the practice of notification
of such cases is, in my view, a wise one.