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15
Measles
There were 1,020 cases of measles notified in 1953. This is 719 less
than in 1952 when notifications were the highest recorded since the disease
was made notifiable in 1940. The reduced incidence in 1953 is probably due
to two factors: (1) Measles appears to run in two-yearly cycles and 1953
corresponded to a year of expected reduced incidence on these grounds; (2)
The disease has its maximum incidence in the 5 year olds and following the
decline of the birth rate after 1947 there is a smaller number of children in
this group to be exposed to infection.
The following graph which appeared in my annual report for 1951 has been
brought up to date and shows continuing relationship between the measles
incidence and the birth rate five years earlier. To level out the biennial
peaks and troughs which characterise the incidence of measles, average figures
for 2 year periods are shown
Forty one cases of measles with complications were removed to hospital
and the average length of stay in hospital was 14 days. Little information
is available as to the nature of the complications necessitating hospital
admission, but there was one case of meningo- encephalitis following measles in
a child of one year.
MEASLES
Notification Rate and Birthrate shown five years earlier