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35.
Infectious Diseases.
Incidence.—Full particulars of all notifiable infectious
diseases, arranged according to disease, ward and
age, will be found in Table IV., page 50.
The number of cases of infectious diseases notified
during 1928 was 3,806, compared with 2,055 in 1927
and 5,292 in 1926. The cause of the difference in the
numbers during these three years was the epidemic of
measles which occurred in 1926.
Excluding measles, 1,707 cases were notified in
1928 compared with 1,592 in 1927.
The diphtheria notifications decreased from 390 in
1927 to 359 in 1928 and the number of cases of scarlet
fever rose from 360 to 416. The notifications of influenzal
and primary pneumonia were 297 in number in 1928
compared with 310 in 1927. There was also a decrease
in the figures for tuberculosis, namely 333 during 1928
compared with 346 during 1927 (see page 55). Erysipelas
notifications numbered 81 in 1928 compared with 58 in
the previous year, and cases of infantile diarrhoea rose
from 14 during 1927 to 60 during 1928. The number
of cases of infectious diseases of the nervous system, of
which 15 were notified in 1927, dropped to 9 in 1928.
These included 4 cases of cerebro-spinal meningitis, 2 of
encephalitis lethargica (sleepy sickness) and 3 of poliomyelitis
or infantile paralysis.
Mortality from Infectious Disease.—There were 400
deaths from notifiable diseases in 1928 compared with
354 in 1927. Whereas there were no deaths from measles
during 1927, there were 15 in 1928 all of children under
10 years of age.
Thirteen deaths were due to diphtheria in 1928
compared with 11 in 1927, while two persons died of
scarlet fever in 1928 compared with one in 1927.