§ Mr. Viantasked the Minister of Health how many cases of diphtheria in immunised children were recorded by medical officers of health in 1943; and how many of these cases were fatal.
§ Mr. WillinkAccording to returns received from all but a few local authorities in England and Wales, the number of notifications of diphtheria in 1943 among immunised children was approximately 5,050. Information in the precise form referred to in the last part of the Question 1293W is not available, but according to the same returns, of 1,079 children who died from diphtheria in 1943, 42 had been immunised at some time. To make the general position clearer, I should add that, in the two years 1942–43, the annual rate of incidence of diphtheria among immunised children, based on the estimated time of exposure to risk, was rather more than a quarter of that among those not immunised, and the corresponding mortality ratio was about one to twenty-three.