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24
Scarlet Fever.
There is a further reduction to record, 49 cases
during 1939 as compared with 71 during 1938, which
gives a low incidence rate of 0.82 compared with 1.7 for
1938. There are no special noteworthy facts amongst
these few cases.
Diphtheria.
Twenty-three cases were notified during 1939 as
against 19 in the previous year, giving an incidence rate
of 0.4 compared with 0.32 for 1938.
It is difficult to assess the part played by immunisation
in the satisfactory continuance of a low incidence
of diphtheria in this area, and I am, therefore, reluctant
to claim that control of this disease is entirely due to
immunisation. Until immunisation is more widely and
systematically adopted, we can only record an apparent
good result.