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Show DECREASE SEEN IN MEASLES CASES PAST YEAR Incidence of measles, once the scourge of school children, reached an all-time low in Utah during the past year, with the number of eases being less than a 10th of the 14-year average, it was reported Monday by state health department depart-ment officials. During the year, the state had only 518 cases and one death due to this disease, compared with an average over the past 14 years of some 6000 cases. Health officials could not explain ex-plain the remarkable drop in the number of cases, but Dr. A. A. Jenkins, director of communicable disease control, said part of the decrease likely was due to the use of a preparation known as "im mune globulin" in fighting the disease. When used to modify or lighten an attack of measles, the preparation prepara-tion has often given lifetime protection pro-tection from the disease, Dr. Jenkins Jen-kins said, adding that no successful success-ful or active immunization method has so far been developed. Meanwhile, the state's record of diphtheria cases continued to mount, with 16 new cases reported for the week ended Friday. The new cases, including 10 from (Continued on Page Two) Decrease Seen In Measles (Continued from Page One) Uintah county, three from Carbon county and one each from Cache : county, Salt Lake City and Og-den, Og-den, brought the total for the year to date to 117 cases, far above the 10-year average. Total new cases of communicable diseases reported during the week was 237, compared to 284 for the preceding week. |
