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61
PUERPERAL PYREXIA.
Forty-one cases were notified, representing an attack rate of
49.0 per 1,000 total births. All of these cases occurred in hospitals.
No deaths were registered.
OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM.
One case was notified. This occurred in hospital and the child
made a full recovery.
PEMPHIGUS NEONATORUM.
No notifications of this disease were received during 1954.
MEASLES.
There was a sharp drop in the number of cases occurring in
1954. Two hundred and nine notifications were received, as
against nine hundred and sixty-eight for the previous year. This
figure represents an attack rate of 3.23 per 1,000 total population.
No deaths were registered.
What has been said of scarlet fever with regard to its severity
might well be repeated in the case of measles, but there the
similarity ends. In the case of measles we still get large outbreaks
occurring usually in alternate years, that is to say when a large
number of non-immune children are congregated at school. In
other words, in the year following an epidemic, there are normally
too few susceptibles left in the schools to allow of an outbreak, in
view of the fact that one attack of measles usually confers a life
long immunity.
WHOOPING COUGH.
Notifications of this disease also showed a reduction during
1954. Two hundred and fifty-one cases occurred, as against three
hundred and eighty-two for 1953, giving an attack rate of 3.87 per
1.000 total population.
No deaths were registered.
In this case also, we seem to be facing a problem of diminishing
severity although it may well be that improved methods of
treatment are largely responsible, but here again the improved
stamina of the children may be a likely factor in the severity of
the disease. The value of immunisation against this illness is still
a controversial point and although many doctors and parents are
convinced of its efficacy at least in mitigating the effects of the
disease, it has not yet received universal approval.
FOOD POISONING.
Under Section 17 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, medical
practitioners are required to notify the Medical Officer of Health
of any patient he is attending, if he becomes aware, or suspects,
that such person is suffering from food poisoning.