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NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
During the review period considerable change in the annual
incidence of infectious disease has occurred, and whilst it is difficult,
in relation to some diseases, to account for the variation, there arc
certain ones where it can be claimed that preventive measures merit
some credit for the improvement. There is one condition where
immunisation procedures can be claimed to have caused absolute
extinction. In the early part of the period 1938/39 some 70 to 80
cases of Diphtheria occurred within the Borough each year, but over
the period these figures have gradually dwindled until 1951, and from
this date onwards no case of Diphtheria has been notified within the
Borough. This extinction of a serious infectious disease can reasonably
be claimed as the result of the immunisation programmei
Two other minor diseases of childhood, Scarlet Fever and
Whooping Cough, have decreased considerably in incidence since
1938, but the third one, Measles, seems to vary from year to year
without any trend of diminution, and the only conclusion one can
draw is that when susceptible children are available Measles attacks
with unchanged virulence.
There has not been the same reduction in the infectious diseases
of adult life ; Pneumonia continues to occur in between 50 to 100
cases per annum, and such conditions as Puerperal Pyrexia and
Erysipelas show an incidence fluctuating from year to year but not
exhibiting a reduced trend-line.
A few of the diseases of war-time cropped up locally during the
years of conflict but these conditions such as Cerebro-spinal Fever,
Encephalitis, and infections of the Enteric group, appear to be considerably
reduced and only occur now as sporadic cases.
Approximately 130 cases of Tuberculosis were notified annually
in the late thirties; this figure rose during the war-time to a figure
of round about 250 per year, but one is happy to report that the
epidemic now appears to be on the decline and the number of cases
notified annually in the last five years has averaged somewhere in
the region of 80 and is still tending to diminish.
The community can be assured that their preventive measures
are of some avail and have in the past shown a certain amount of
success.
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