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Scarlet Fever
Ninety-three cases of scarlet fever were notified during 1952,
as against 196 in 1951. No deaths occurred during the year. It
will be seen that notifications fell considerably during the year,
although the total number of cases notified during 1952
approximated to the average for the past fifteen years. As noted
in the introduction to this section of my report, scarlet fever is now
a very mild disease, with rapid recovery, in almost all cases, few
complications and little epidemiological significance.
It now seems quite anomalous that cases of severe tonsillitis
due to the hemolytic streptococcus are not notifiable and need
not be excluded from school, while cases of scarlet fever, due to the
same organism receive a great deal of attention, merely because
they are accompanied by a rash. I have been of opinion for a
number of years that our outlook towards scarlet fever should
be modified, and that an overhaul of our present system of exclusion
from school and supervision of contacts in regard to this disease
is long overdue.
Acute Anterior Poliomyelitis
Three cases of acute anterior poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis)
occurred during 1952, against one during 1951. Two of the cases
were paralytic, although the patients were not severely affected.
In each of these two cases, slight paralysis has persisted. The third
patient made a complete recovery. All the cases were children.
It has not been found necessary to issue any special instructions
to the general public relating to the prevalence of poliomyelitis.
One must be extremely careful in regard to this type of publicity,
which may give rise to unnecessary alarm, without achieving any
useful purpose. The position is constantly reviewed, not only
so far as notifications in Wood Green are concerned, but also in
respect of cases occurring in surrounding districts.
Measles
Four hundred and forty-nine cases of measles were notified
during 1952, as against 434 in 1951. We used to be able to
predict with considerable accuracy the appearance of a measles
epidemic, which occurred approximately every two years. This
cycle has not been interrupted as will be shown by the fact that
the number of measles cases reported in Wood Green over the
past six years has never fallen below 400 each year. Having
regard to the fact that measles is now an extremely mild disease,
it is highly probable that many cases are never seen by a doctor,
so that the notifications received during any twelve months cannot
be said to represent accurately the number of cases which actually
occur.
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