View report page

77
Measles.
As was to be expected after a year of low incidence of this
disease, notifications rose sharply in 1959, there being 1,127 cases
notified as against one hundred and forty-five in 1958. One death
from this disease was recorded in the area during the year under
review, and ten cases were admitted to Hospital for varying
reasons. The outbreak which reached its peak in the spring of the
year was once again predominately mild.
Meningococcal Infections.
Three cases were notified and one of these was admitted to
hospital. No deaths were recorded.
Pneumonia.
Forty-two cases were notified in 1959, as against thirty-nine
during 1958.
There were fifty-five deaths attributed to pneumonia, but this
figure includes people who are normally resident in the Urban
District and who died outside the area.
Scarlet Fever.
Notifications of this disease showed a reduction in 1959, a total
of seventy-seven cases being notified as against eighty-nine in 1958.
There were no deaths from this disease recorded in the area during
the year under review. Thirty-seven cases were admitted to
hospital but in the majority of instances this infection is now of an
extremely mild nature.
Smallpox and Vaccination.
No cases of this disease occurred in the district in 1959, but
one contact was kept under surveillance for the requisite period
during the year.
The policy of offering re-vaccination to all members of the staff
of the Health Department was maintained.
Four hundred and forty International Certificates of
Vaccination were dealt with by the Department during the course
of the year.
The County Medical Officer informs me that a total of 998
residents in the area received primary vaccination and 52
re-vaccination in 1959.
Tuberculosis.
The following table shows the position with regard to
tuberculosis, with comparative figures since 1946 (as corrected by
inward and outward transfers).
There were six deaths from tuberculosis during the year.