Annual report of the Department of Public Health, Province of Alberta.

  • Alberta. Department of Public Health.
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Department of Public Health, Province of Alberta. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/332 (page 35)
    its rarity often leading to failure to diagnose in the early stages, and increasing air travel making the possibility of an imported case resulting in many contacts in the incubation and early stages. Vaccination must, therefore, be kept at a high level. Diphtheria (Cass 59, Deaths 12) The number of cases showed an increase over the previous year’s (52 cases), and the number of deaths was doubled. Only seven of these cases occurred in either the two main cities or in those parts of the Province having a fully functioning health unit service. Prior to the introduction of immunization, diphtheria struck most severely in the more urbanized districts as its opportunity for spread is so much greater in the close contact communities. The reversal of this in the Province indicates the value of immunization. Diphtheria is entirely preventable by immunization, and there is no doubt that if the immunization state throughout the Province could be raised the disease would disappear. A considerable effort to raise the immunization state in parts of the Province other than the big cities or health unit areas is well worth while. It will be seen from Table 4 that there has been little change in the picture during the past ten years. Rubella (Cases 1,575, Deaths 0) Though Rubella is considered a mild disease, work carried out during recent years showing the part it plays in the production of malformation in the foetus when contracted in the early months of pregnancy has focussed attention on it. It is advised by several authorities that it is an indication for the termination of pregnancy when contracted in the early months, in order to avoid the possible birth of a malformed infant. With the evidence at present available it would seem a good deal of thought is necessary before a general policy can be formulated as there are many different aspects of this problem which require study. Undulant Fever (Cases 19, Deaths 0) This shows a marked decline compared with the number re¬ ported the previous year (47). Pasteurization of milk prevents this disease from being a major problem, but when it exists in cattle a steady run of cases from rural areas where unpasteurized milk is consumed must be expected. Further improvement in the posi¬ tion will depend on the success of the Department of Agriculture’s efforts to rid the Province of the disease in cattle.