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26
SECTION F
PREVALENCE OF AND CONTROL OVER INFECTIOUS
DISEASE.
Scarlet Fever.
The incidence showed a reduction to 127 (from 183 in 1950) and of
these 17 were removed to hospital.
This disease has become markedly milder and it must be a matter
of great difficulty for a practitioner to decide in certain cases whether
to notify a doubtful case or not. When called in late it must be virtually
impossible to do so with confidence.
Control over contacts having a higher danger potential, e.g. dairy
employees, remains important. Removal to hospital remains a policy
only to be adopted under unusual circumstances.
Diphtheria.
No case occurred during the year.
Seldom has a disease so radically altered in occurrence as has this
one in the past ten years especially. I think that a picture in graph
form might be provided by noting (a) the population and (b) the cases
of Diphtheria.
Immunisation is commonly accepted as the major factor in bringing
about the present satisfactory situation and the necessity for maintaining
a high degree of protection is great if the disease is not again to be
given a golden opportunity to inflict itself upon an unprotected population.
Factors other than immunisation clearly exist, but their nature
and relative importance are largely unknown.
Measles.
Measles occurred on a very large scale during 1951 and over 2,000
cases were notified. Despite this figure no death was ascribed to the
disease. Apart from any alteration in the virulence of the germ or the
immunity of the present-day child, this relatively satisfactory position
must surely have been aided by the high standard of general hygiene
now obtaining and by the advances of chemotherapy which have done
so much to minimise the danger from the concurrent—and often killing
—companions of infectious disease—ior example the pneumonias. A
long protection is normally afforded by a childhood attack.
Whooping Cough.
Incidence at 195 cases remained high. In babies this persists as
a serious disease although only one case from our total died. Dangerous
sequelae may, however, be left with the young child and complete
recovery takes a considerable time to effect.
Encouraging progress is being made towards producing an effective
vaccine against the disease.