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39
(modified smallpox) in other parts of the country but, although
this disease is similarly infectious as is smallpox, it is not a
disease which need create similar anxiety to the virulent form
of smallpox.
I am indebted to the County Medical Officer who has given
me the following figures of persons vaccinated during the year:—
Age at 31st December, 1950 Under 1 1 to 4 5 to 14 15 or Over TOTAL
Number Vaccinated 527 475 131 114 1,247
Number Re-Vaccinated — 7 74 272 353
Anterior Poliomyelitis.
A few sporadic cases were notified during the year—nine in
all, compared with twenty-seven in the previous year. None of
these cases had subsequent paralysis. It is hoped that this
disease is in the period of waning following the extensive
epidemic of a few years ago.
Scarlet Fever.
This disease continued to be mild in character and there
were no deaths. One hundred and sixty-one cases were notified
as compared with two hundred and seventy-five in the previous
year. Ninety-nine were treated in Hospital and sixty nursed at
home. There were, however, seven of these cases which could
safely be recorded as "return" cases. The high percentage of
cases that are admitted to Hospital by General Practitioners and
accepted by the Hospitals is, in my view, not completely
warranted, not only from the economic point of view but also
as very few of them require hospital treatment. Whilst this
disease continues to be of a mild character, I feel that too much
importance is being placed upon it. However, the epidemiology
of any infectious diseases shows that virulence rises and falls
over a period of years and there can be no guarantee that scarlet
fever may not once again become a disease of serious import.
Diphtheria.
Two cases were notified and admitted to Hospital, but neither
was confirmed. The absence of this disease from the yearly
returns and the falling of the death rate coincided with the
immunising campaign commenced in the early thirties. Whether
this is post hoc ergo propter hoc only the years ahead can tell.
Nevertheless, it is essential from the Public Health angle to
promote the immunisation and the re-immunisation of all children
under fifteen years of age.
I am indebted to the County Medical Officer for the following
return of immunisation carried out in the year as immunisation
is a County Council service and is not now carried out by the
Local Authority:—
During the year 1951, a total of 1,543 children received