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11
SECTION F. — PREVALENCE OF, AND CONTROL OVER,
INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES.
(Civilians only).
NOTIFIABLE DISEASES.
The table in Section F sets out the number of cases of infectious
diseases notified during 1961.
Measles.
The expected biennial epidemic of measles occurred and no less
than 671 cases were notified. Eight were severe enough to require
admission to hospital but all made complete recoveries.
Otherwise the amount of notifiable infectious disease was quite
remarkably low and only three other cases were admitted to hospital.
There were only two very small outbreaks of food poisoning and
only two children were notified suffering from a mild form of
dysentery.
Pulmonary tuberculosis showed an increase both in the notification
of new cases and in deaths during 1961.
The increase in the number of notifications is due to better facilities
for diagnosis and case finding, and the recognition that the disease can
be found in all age groups.
Reference to Table 16 shows that one very young child was notified,
and no less than 7 cases were over 65 years of age.
Of the 6 deaths — 2 were of elderly men whose disease was diagnosed
after death, two were men aged 75 who had been under
observation and treatment for many years; one was a younger man
who had suffered from severe chronic tuberculosis since 1940 and one
was an elderly woman who died from broncho-pneumonia with
arrested pulmonary tuberculosis.
IMMUNIZATION.
The Schemes for immunizing children against diphtheria, whooping
rough, tetanus, and poliomyelitis continued as in previous years, and
the response from parents was very good indeed. Reference to
Section F will show how these schemes are progressing.
Only about 60% of parents agree to their children being inoculated
against tuberculosis and efforts are to be made to increase this in
future. B.C.G. vaccination confers most useful protection during the
susceptible years and could materially assist in eradicating the disease
from this country.