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ACUTE POLIOMYELITIS.
Only 1 case of poliomyelitis occurred in the District. It was removed
to the Isolation Hospital and subsequently to an Orthopaedic Hospital
for the treatment of the resulting paralysis.
PNEUMONIA.
There were 12 notifications of acute primary or influenzal pneumonia
during the year as compared with 30, 13 and 32 in the past three years.
Seven of the cases were inmates of the Mental Hospitals.
No cases were removed to the Isolation Hospital.
The number of deaths registered as occurring from all forms of
Pneumonia was 15 as compared with 16 in the previous year.
DYSENTERY.
Two cases of Dysentery were notified, both of which were inmates
of one of the Mental Hospitals. In addition the death occurred at the
County Hospital, Redhill, of a baby under 1 year of age from bacillary
dysentery.
THE CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
While a perusal of the foregoing will illustrate the place of isolation,
disinfection, etc., in the limitation of infectious disease, only 4 secondary
cases having occurred in the same houses as primary cases during the
year, it is increasingly appreciated how inadequate these measures
invariably are. With diseases such as diphtheria, in which a definite
proportion of the general population are carrying virulent germs, although
apparently healthy, segregation of those suffering from the disease can
only be partially successful in preventing its spread. It is this factor
which has made the recent wave of scarlet fever so difficult to control,
mild and missed cases with inconclusive symptoms, e.g., streptococcal
infections causing no rash, being potential courses of infection.
One of the measures in which most hope for the future lies is
artificial immunisation. Unfortuntaely in a number of diseases the
immunising agent has yet to be discovered ; in others the number of
different strains of the causae organism increases the difficulty of immunising
; in yet others the immunity which can be created artificially is
so short lived as to make the question of the general use of such
measures doubtful or unwise. Diphtheria immunisation has now been
widely used for years, is very effective, and usually lasts for a considerable
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