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27
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
Incidence. Full particulars of all notifiable
diseases arranged according to disease, ward and age
will be found in Table IV on page 34.
The number of cases of infectious disease notified
during 1931 was 1,505 compared with 4,229 in 1930.
The large number of cases in 1930 was due to Measles ;
excluding Measles, the total cases notified were 1,395
in 1931 and 1,703 in 1930. The decrease in the
number of notifiable cases, apart from Measles, is due
to the smaller number of cases of Diphtheria and
Scarlet Fever.
The notifications of Diphtheria decreased from
402 to 225 and the cases of Scarlet Fever from 595
to 331. The notifications of pneumonia were 275 in
1931 as compared with 207 in 1930. There was also
an increase in the number of new cases of tuberculosis,
353 being notified against 296 in 1930. Notifications
of Erysipelas rose from 74 to 86 and of infantile diarrhoea
from 31 to 33. The number of cases of infectious
disease of the nervous system, of which 7 were notified
in 1930, rose to 14 in 1931. These included 1 case of
encephalitis lethargica, 9 of cerebro-spinal meningitis
and 4 of poliomyelitis.
Mortality from Infectious Disease. There were 392
deaths from notifiable infectious diseases in 1931, compared
with 368 deaths in 1930.
The deaths from diphtheria fell from 19 to 9 and
those from Scarlet Fever remained the same at 2 deaths.
The deaths from tuberculosis rose from 134 to 169
and those from pneumonia from 148 to 171.
There was only one death from Measles compared
with 27 in 1930.