GOOD BILL OF HEALTH

Evening Star, Issue 17313, 29 March 1920, Page 8

GOOD BILL OF HEALTH

INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN 1919. The lowest number for four years is shown by the notification in 1919 of the six principal infectious diseases. The de- , tails for the period are as follow: I | 1919. 1918. 1917. 1916. ' Scarlet fever 1,521 1,654 2.755 4,278 | Diphtheria ... 3,499 5,539 5,458 2.376 I Enteric ... 477 423 653 'BO6 j Tuberculosis 984 1,072 1,521 950 I Cerebrospinal 5 meningitis 96 159 42 135 f Poliomyelitis 11 6 54 1,018 I Totals ... 6,588 8,853 10,483 3,563 I The total notifications in 1915 were i I 5,671, and in 1914, including cerebro-spinal i I meningitis and poliomyelitis, 4,417. ' 3 Commenting on the returns, the ' Jour- | 9 rial of Public Health' says a noticeable ' I feature is the decrease in" the diphtheria I notifications from 5,539 in 1918 to 3,499 iin 1919. Similarly there was a decrease in the cases of scarlet fever and of tuberculosis. During 1918 159 cases of cerbroepinal meningitis were notified, many of these being associated with, the influenza epidemic; during last year, however, only 96 cases have been notified. The great majority of the cases of influenza notified during the year have teen of a very mild type. Lethargic encephal- i . itis and measles are now notifiable dis-' eases. During the last few months of the year the former appears to have fallen off considerably, only three cases being notified in October, two in November, and none in December, though the notifications fa were, as high as 39 in June and 20 in I July-. H With the exception of influenza and jy pneumonia, there have been >jio cases of Jb any other diseaees which are declared |{ "dangerous infectious diseases" in New f| Zealand—i.e., leprosy, bubonic plague, H smallpox, and cholera.