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PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
From the table of infectious diseases set out in
Table 1, pages 28/29 it will be noted that 560 cases of
infectious disease were notified during the year as against
289 in the previous year. This total is, I have remarked
before, extremely misleading. A large percentage of
cases is taken up by measles, which appears in epidemic
form every second year. Thus, if the number of measles
cases which occurred in 1955 were deducted from the total
of 560, 98 cases of other infectious diseases would remain.
If the total of the measles cases which occurred in 1954
were taken from the total for the year (289), 181 cases
would remain. Thus, although the total for 1955 is almost
twice as great as that for 1954, the incidence of infectious
diseases other than measles was approximately twice as low.
Diphtheria.
One case of diphtheria was notified in the district
during the year. This occurred in Friern Hospital and cannot,
therefore, be regarded as a true indication of the
presence of diphtheria in Friern Barnet. It merely means '
that our record of six previous years in succession, during
which no case of diphtheria was notified, has now been broken.
It still remains a fact, however, that diphtheria has not
appeared outside Friern Hospital; that, indeed, it has
virtually ceased to be an important factor in the infectious
disease picture.
Immunisation has continued in Friern Barnet along the
lines mentioned in previous reports, with minor alterations
to bring our programme into line with scientific advances.
The figures relating to Friern Barnet might be summarised
as follows:-
Children' immunised against diphtheria
or diphtheria and whooping cough
combined 328
(a) At County Council Clinics 192
(b) By family doctors 136
Children given re-inforcing injection. 456
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