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It will be clear from these figures that the age period 5.10 years
is particularly important and probably reflects the special risks of
infection attendant on school life. Both whooping cough and measles
are exceptionally infectious, but fortunately one attack usually confers
a lasting immunity. No less than 54 per cent. of children appear to
have contracted whooping cough before they reach the school-going
age, compared with 39 per cent. for measles and 17 per cent. for both
scarlet fever and diphtheria respectively. But the early years of
school life are marked by a particularly heavy incidence of each of
these diseases, measles being highest with 52 per cent., followed by
scarlet fever, 50 per cent; whooping cough, 40 per cent.; and diphtheria,
28 per cent.; respectively. Attacks of neither scarlet fever nor
diphtheria confer immunity and thus we see a considerable proportion
of cases of these diseases occurring among persons long past the
school-going age.
Nevertheless, scarlet fever is peculiarly an infection of school life,
as may be seen from the fact that no less than 69 per cent. of all
notifications relate to the age period 5 to 15 years Diphtheria also
shows a heavy incidence at this period, viz., 44 per cent., a fact which
points to the need for repeating the "boosting dose" of diphtheria
vaccine, which many children already get before entering school, on
one or more occasions during their school career.
The record number of births that occurred in the Borough during
the year taxed the available accommodation for maternity cases to its
extreme limit. Unfortunately, the destruction caused at St. Helier
Hospital in 1944 by flying-bombs had put a number of beds out of
operation and an extreme shortage of nurses and domestic staff added
to the difficulty. Nevertheless a larger number of cases, viz., 240, was
admitted to one or other of: the local hospitals than ever before, while
in spite of the fact that, owing to the destruction and damage to house
property and the grave difficulty of securing domestic assistance, home
confinements were not so easily arranged as formerly, no less than 219
took place during the year, a figure which closely corresponds with 222,
the average for the past seven years, and compares favourably with
that of 193 for 1944.
Meanwhile, the repair of the damaged wards at St. Helier Hospital
is expected to relieve the pressure on existing maternity accommodation
very materially in the early future.
One of the most satisfactory features of the year's public health
work has been the growing popularity of the Solarium. During the
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