§ Mr. Viantasked the Secretary of State for War (1) how many cases of diphtheria occurred in the Army during the recent war; and whether any of them had been inoculated against the disease;
(2) whether he will supply information regarding cases of typhoid fever, and deaths from that disease, which occurred in the Army during the recent war; where these outbreaks occurred; and if the majority of men attacked had been inoculated against the disease.
§ Mr. BellengerMedical statistics for the late war are at present incomplete. All available information on the subject is being collated and will be given in a composite medical statistical report which I hope will be published in the New Year.
The incidence of diphtheria in the British Army in the recent war was low, and general immunisation was not practised. It became necessary in occasional isolated outbreaks of the disease in units to immunise members of the units concerned but I cannot say which of the men attacked by diphtheria had been immunised.
As regards typhoid the final figures will probably show about 2,000 to 3,000 cases of the enteric group of fevers in the British Army during the recent war, as compared with over 20,000 cases in the 1914–1918 war. Outbreaks occurred in varying degrees in the United Kingdom and in all theatres of war. The proportion of deaths was small. Practically all the men attacked had been inoculated.