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Borough Infectious Diseases Hospital
Dr. Landon's observations are contained in the following
report upon the work of the hospital:-
The year 1936 showed a decline in the incidence of infectious
disease, although not so pronounced as the previous year. The
total number of patients admitted to Hospital was 657, compared
with 684 in 1935 and 1,290 in 1934. The death rates for the two
most prevalent zymotic diseases were correspondingly low, namely
3.4% in the case of Diphtheria and nil per cent.in the case of
Scarlet Fever.
This comparative freedom from infectious disease appears to
be due to a decrease in the infectivity of the causal organisms,
although other factors, such as decreased susceptibility, or
increased powers of resistance on the part of the individual, may
also play their part. There can be no doubt, furthermore, that
the immunisation of children against diphtheria is, in part, responsible
for the smaller incidence of that disease resulting, as it does,
in a diminution in the number of susceptible persons.
Unfortunately, this state of affairs may not last indefinitely;
and it is a well known fact that periods of quiescence, such as we
are now experiencing, are liable to be followed by an increase both
in the incidence and severity of epidemic disease. This view is
expressed, in relation to scarlet fever, by a Report (No. 180,
1933) of the Medical Research Council, which suggests that the
death rate for scarlet fever may have reached its lowest level and
may tend to rise again.
A similar immunity cannot, unfortunately, be claimed in the
case of measles. Many cases, complicated by pneumonia and