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Prevalence and Control
over Infectious Diseases
From the table of notifications set out on page 51 it will be
seen that 797 cases of infectious disease were notified during the
year, as against 1,006 in 1945 and 636 in 1944. The Infectious
Sickness Rate for the district was thus 10.96, as compared with
15.48 during 1945 and 9.91 in 1944.
The fall in the Infectious Sickness Rate for the year was almost
entirely due to the decrease in measles and whooping cough
notifications, which together accounted for a reduction of 157 cases.
Diphtheria.—The total of two cases notified during the year is
the lowest yet recorded in Southgate. It is virtually certain that
the decline in the incidence of diphtheria which has come about
during the past ten years is almost solely due to immunisation in
which Southgate has played its full part. Other factors which
influence the spread of diphtheria infection—overcrowding, existence
of "carriers," nutrition, early diagnosis—have either not altered
in any way or have changed for the worse. The fact that, in spite
of present-day hazards, diphtheria has been brought under strict
control, represents a major victory for the principles and practice
of immunisation. It is pleasing to remember that Southgate was a
pioneer in this field of preventive medicine, and that, years before
die national campaign in favour of immunisation was inaugurated,
our system was in operation. We are reaping the benefits now, to
^uch an extent that, so long as present policy is continued, diphtheria
as a major killing and incapacitating factor need cause no alarm.
Scarlet Fever.—Notifications of scarlet fever dropped by 27
during the year, the total for 1946 being slightly under the average
for the past ten years. The type of infection met with was mild,
the complication rate being correspondingly low. The use of sulpha
drugs, coupled with the exhibition of serum in selected cases, has
greatly facilitated the treatment of this disease, although its position
in relation to the general group of streptococcal infections still
leaves much to be desired. So long as severe streptococcal infections,
e.g., tonsil it is and the like, remain outside the group of notifiable
infectious diseases, the inclusion of a similar type of infection,
whose differentiation rests almost entirely upon the appearance of a
rash, is unsatisfactory. This applies particularly to the type of
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