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66
Pneumonia.
Forty-five cases were notified during the year, as against
forty-three in 1956.
There were forty-nine deaths from pneumonia. This figure
includes people who are normally resident in the Urban District
but who died outside the area.
A rise in the incidence of pneumonia is expected in a year in
which influenza is epidemic on a large scale. In fact an increased
notification rate of 2 compared with the previous year is less than
one would have expected in the circumstances. It is more than
probable that the explanation is that influenza affected predominantly
the younger age groups and tended to miss those age groups
which are more likely to be attacked by pneumonia.
Scarlet Fever.
Notifications of this disease showed a decrease during 1957,
fifty-six cases being notified as against seventy-five in 1956.
Sixteen of these cases were removed to hospital. There were no
" return" cases, and no deaths from this disease in the Urban
District in 1957.
Smallpox and Vaccination.
No cases of this disease occurred in the Urban District during
the year.
The policy of offering re-vaccination annually to all members
of the staff of the Public Health Department has been maintained.
During the year, a total of four hundred and ninety-four
International Certificates of Vaccination passed through the hands
of the department for purposes of authenticating doctors'
signatures.
The County Medical Officer informs me that a total of one
thousand and fifty-seven residents in the area received primary
vaccination, and one hundred and seventy-seven re-vaccination
during 1957.
Tuberculosis.
The following table shows the position with regard to tuberculosis,
with comparative figures since 1944 (as corrected by inward
and outward transfers).
There were eight deaths from tuberculosis during the year.
The total of new notifications received during the year was
fifty-four, as compared with eighty-five in 1956.
The considerable reduction in the number shown on the
register at the end of the year, is due to the fact that, in conjunction
with the Chest Clinic, a survey of those on the register was undertaken
and those patients found to have removed from the district
without notification, and those who are not now regarded as
suffering from tuberculosis have been deleted.