Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales.
- New South Wales. Department of Public Health
- Date:
- [1933]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales. Source: Wellcome Collection.
51/152 page 37
![SECTION I—C. COMMUNICABLE DISEASES. L—NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASES BECOEDED IN NEW SOUTH WALES DURING THE YEARS ENDED 31st DECEMBER, 1933. (F. S. Wearne.) Public Health Acts, 1902-1921. The Public Health Act, 1902, provides that the Governor may, by Proclamation in the Government Gazette, declare that any disease therein-named is an infectious disease. No alteration to the existing list was made in 1933. Cases and Deaths Notified. Notifiable from— 1931. 1932. 1933. Cases. Deaths. Cases. Deaths. Cases. Deaths. Typhoid fever and paratyphoid . 1st January, 1898 . 340 35 233 31 188 28 Scarlet fever . 4,477 36 4,905 57 4,259 55 Diphtheria or membranous croup . 4,432 168 4,310 160 3,912 169 Bubonic plague . 23rd January, 1900. Infantile paralysis (including any form of lstFebruary,l 912. Defi- acute anterior poliomyelitis, polioen- nition Re-proclaimed cephalitis or polio-myeloencephalitis) 14th August, 1931 ... 103 10 384 44 13 4 Epidemic cerebro-spinal fever (menin- gococcal meningitis) . 11th October, 1915 30 9 51 7 24 5 Encephalitis lethargica. 1st April, 1926 . 20 16 12 18 1] 15 Cholera . 12th August, 1927 . Tvphus fever . 2 1 3 1 Yellow fever . Puerperal infection . 16th August, 1929 . 319 83 292 59 222 100 Total . 9,721 357 10,187 376 8,632 377 Population at 31st Dec. 2,519,300 2,542,034 2,613,776 The number of cases of the above diseases notified in each district in 1933 and death- therefrom are shown in Tables I-IV, pp. 38-46. For reasons of economy tables showing age and sex incidence and seasonal prevalence have been omitted. Pulmonary tuberculosis is notifiable under the Public Health (Amendment) Act, 1915, and venereal diseases under the Venereal Diseases Act, 1918 (see below). The notifications of infectious disease dropped from 10,187 cases in 1932 to 8.632 cases in 1933, the principal decreases being 646 fewer cases of scarlet fever and 398 of diphtheria. Typhoid fever also declined, the notified cases totalling 188 in 1933 and 233 in 1932. The fatality rates from these three diseases were slightly higher, however, in 1933 than in 1932. The total deaths from notifiable diseases were 376 in 1932 and 377 in 1933; the case fatality rates for the two years being respectively :—typhoid fever—1932, 13 per cent.; 1933, 15 per cent.; scarlet fever—1932, 1-16 per cent1; 1933, 1-32 per cent.; diphtheria— 1932, 3-71 per cent. ; 1933, 4-23 per cent. A report on an outbreak of 36 cases of typhoid fever with 10 deaths associated with a country Religious Convention held at an open air camp, at which some 300 persons were present for several days, will be found on page 47. The source of infection was found in all 2>robability to be a “ carrier ” who had recently become an adherent to the sect. Infantile Paralysis.—13 cases and 4 deaths were notified in 1933. Cerebrospinal meningitis.—24 cases and 5 deaths were notified. Encephalitis Lethargica.—11 cases were notified. The Statistician’s return shows 15 deaths. On investigation it is found that some of the deaths are due to non-notifiable forms of encephalitis, such as cerebral abscess, brain tumours, etc. Bubonic Plague.—No case of plague has been recorded in New South Wales since 1923. Systematic trapping of rats along the foreshores used by overseas shipping is continuous; no infection was found among the 4,032 rats examined in Microbiological Laboratory during the year. Smallpox.—No case of smallpox was reported during 1933. Leprosy.—One case of leprosy was admitted to the Lazaret in 1933, and 1 patient died. There was one re-admission; 19 persons (16 males and 3 females) remained under detention on 31st December, 1933. A summarised report will be found on p. 91. Endemic typhus fever—Of three cases notified in 1933, one was in the metropolitan district, and two in the North Coast district. Pulmonary Tuberculosis—Notifiable under the Public Health (Amendment) Act, 1915. For report on the Tuberculosis Division, see p. 58. 1,441 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were notified in 1933; and 951 deaths were recorded. The Waterfall Sanatorium report is on p. 97. Venereal Diseases Act, 1918. For report of the Commissioner, see p. 54. There was a total of 4,809 notifications in 1933, a decrease of 33 on the figures for 1932.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31485248_0051.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
