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PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES,
From the table of infectious diseases set out in
Table 1, it will be noted that 587 cases of infectious
disease were notified during the year as against 193 in
the previous year. The rise in the number of cases
of infectious diseases recorded during 1957 was due
almost entirely to the increase in measles notifications,
from 80 to 441. As already noted of course, 1957 was
what we have come to know as a "measles year".
It must be admitted that, so far as measles
notifications are concerned, we merely receive these
notifications and do little more, unless we are
specifically asked to do so by a general practitioner
or a parent. And this, I may say, is an extremely
rare occurrence.
In the case of scarlet fever we do, of course, control
food handlers who have been in intimate contact with the
disease; while we still carry out disinfection when and
where this is requested or desired. Here again, however,
it must be remembered that what we do now is very little
compared with what we did not so many years ago.
Indeed, in my submission, having regard to all the
circumstances, the only justification for continuing the
notification of the disease which we call scarlet fever
is the fact that, at any time, the more severe type may
arrive back in this country and will require regular
supervision. In other words, the continuation of
scarlet fever among the list of notifiable infectious
diseases, although achieving very little in itself, does
keep in existence the machinery which might be allimportant
if the type of scarlet fever which so many of us
remember, should return. It is also worth while noting
that streptococcal infection of the throat without a rash
is not notifiable, although this condition can be just as
infectious as scarlet fever itself. It must also be
borne in mind that many cases of the present mild type
of scarlet fever are never notified. Indeed, in
quite a number of instances it would seem that the
existence of the disease is never even suspected.
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