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58
Aircraft Regulations.
The P.H. (Aircraft) Regulations 1952 replace those of 1950 following
the adoption by the Fourth World Health Assembly in 1951 of the
International Sanitary Regulations (World Health Organisation Regulations
No. 2) which replace the International Sanitary Conventions.
DIPHTHERIA
In none of the 12 patients admitted to hospital suspected to be
suffering from diphtheria was the diagnosis confirmed. This is the
second consecutive year the district has been completely free from this
disease. During the five years since the end of 1947 there have been
two cases only, one suffering from a nasal infection, the other from a
faucial infection.
The very fortunate position in which the district finds itself is due
not to any one cause. Even before any substantial proportion of the
population had been protected by immunisation of the children against
the risk of contracting infection, the incidence here for many years had
been well below the average for the country. It is quite probable had
there been no widescale immunisation throughout the country that there
would have been a fall in incidence, though not to the extent that has
occurred since the campaign was started. On top of these factors is the
effect of immunising a substantial proportion of the vulnerable section
of the population. A highly immunised population will not suffer from
an outbreak of diphtheria. To repel invasion though, the ratio of the
numbers of susceptibles to those immune must be kept low. Only by
immunising a high proportion of the new susceptibles—that is the new
babies of the district—can this state be maintained. The longer the
district remains free from attack, the less necessary it would seem to
many that anything should be done. This makes it the more necessary
for the need to be constantly emphasised. Many children are immunised
by their own doctors; many too are treated at the local clinics. The
health visitors when they see mothers either in their own homes or at
the clinics, aim at having all the children on their districts treated. In
addition to this constant and steady campaign, for a few weeks each
year, special attention is given to the matter.
During the year 2,167 children were treated for the first time, 1,078
by general medical practitioners, 1,079 at infant welfare centres, and 10
at day nurseries. It is estimated that at the end of the vear 47 per cent.
of children under five years of age were protected, and 76 per cent. of
children aged five to 15 years, figures much the same as those for 1951.
SCARLET FEVER
252 cases of scarlet fever were notified in this district last year. In
six the diagnosis was changed. The corrected figure of 246 was an
incidence rate of 1.12 per thousand population, a figure to be compared
with 1.53 for the country as a whole, and 0.82 for this district last year,
the lowest experienced here.