SOCIAL SERVICES
on as wide a scale as possible. Special attention was paid to employees in restaurants and other establishments concerned with the handling of food. A mass inoculation campaign among school children was also launched by the School Health Service, as there was clear evidence that the infection was occurring with relatively greater frequency in the younger population age groups. Public response was not as great as it had been to other inoculation campaigns, perhaps because of the two injections necessary to give protection and also, perhaps, because of the relatively severe reaction liable to be experienced from the injection. Nevertheless, the campaign was pursued, particularly in controlled population groups, and, by the end of the year 91,346 persons had been protected by this means.
All notified cases were treated in hospital, chloramphenicol being the therapeutic agent generally used, and results were satisfactory. The falling case fatality rate, shown in the figures above, in spite of the increased number of cases, is certainly partly accounted for by earlier diagnosis and improved methods of treatment.
The Dysenteries. The number of cases of bacillary dysentery notified was practically double that of the previous year, the figure being 662 as compared with 336 in 1952. There was an increase, too, in the number or notified cases of amoebic dysentery, there being 285 notifications as compared with 201 in the previous twelve months.
Diphtheria. The increasing prevalence of this infection, particularly evident since 1949, continued. The two infectious diseases hospitals again were under severe strain at the season of peak incidence, as it was the policy to hospitalise all cases whenever the diagnosis was established. The total number of cases notified was 1,116 and there were 133 deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 11.92%. Cases and deaths in the previous year numbered 987 and 157. Unfortunately, far too many
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