PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

Abstract

THE accompanying table summarizes the incidence of nine important communicable diseases, based on weekly telegraphic reports from State health departments. The reports from each State for each week are published in PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS under the section "Incidence of Disease."[SEE THE TABLE IN SOURCE PDF].

Diseases Above Median Incidence

Influenza.—The number of cases of influenza dropped from 45,536 during the preceding 4 weeks to 25,459 during the 4 weeks ended March 27. Of the total cases, Texas reported 11,620, South Carolina 2,825, Virginia 2,213, Alabama 1,512, California 1,447, Arkansas 985, and Arizona 834; 84% of the cases occurred in those 7 states. For the country as a whole the incidence was only about 20% of the 1947 incidence for the corresponding weeks, but it was 1.4 times the median for the preceding 5 years. The recent outbreak of this disease that has been confined to States in the Southern and Western sections followed the usual pattern of an influenza epidemic and the peak apparently was reached during the month of February. The 1947 epidemic did not begin until late in the season and the peak was not reached until in March, or during the four weeks corresponding to the period under consideration.