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The rather excessive number of cases of measles was expected
and was in accordance with the prevalence throughout the country.
Comparable figures are found in reports for 1947 and 1945. Generally
the course of the illness was mild; only seven cases being serious
enough to require admission to hospital. There were no deaths.
Whooping Cough fell to its usual level and only one case required
admission to hospital. I am pleased to be able to report that no deaths
occurred as a result of this dangerous and distressing illness.
Nine cases of poliomyelitis and two cases of polioencephalitis
occurred; there was one death. The two cases of polioencephalitis
were very acute in onset and both were adults. One, a man aged 36,
died within twenty hours of first calling in his private doctor. The
other, a woman aged 35, became extremely seriously ill and almost
completely paralysed within a few hours of the onset. She was removed
to hospital where she remained in much the same condition
until her death in April, 1950. A feature about these two cases was
that they lived close to one another. Other than this no actual contact
could be discovered between the two families. Close contacts were
kept under observation and there were no further developments,