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Show "STATE HEALTH I REPORT GIVEN Physicians and state health officers of-ficers reported a total of 237 resident resi-dent cases of notifiable diseases for the week ending December 26, 1947. There were 284 cases reported re-ported last week and 248 for the same period last year. Sixteen new cases of diphtheria were reported this week, which brings the total to 117 cases for the year. Ten of the cases this week were reported from Uintah county, three from Carbon county, one from Cache county, one from Salt Lake City, and one from Og-den. Og-den. This is the last communicable disease report week of the year, so we now have complete 1947 communicable disease figures. It is interesting to note that measles has been outstanding because of the few cases reported practically each week during the year. The 518 cases reported this year establishes estab-lishes a low point for measles for the past 14 years, when we had only 199 cases in 1932. Since measles meas-les was first reported in Utah in 1908, there has been a total of 23,7S0 cases stretched oyer the past 39 years with a yearly average aver-age of 6,000 cases. The marked drop in measles cases this year is due mainly to a series of events over which we have little control. In th.s disease dis-ease we have no means of active ly immunizing people such as we have for diphtheria, whooping cough, and other .preventable disease. dis-ease. However, a preparation 5called "immune globulin" has'been used successfully for a number of years to prevent or modify meas-les meas-les when given within a few days after exposure. When measles is prevented in this way, the protec-tion protec-tion lasts only about two or three y, weeks, but if used to modify (lighten the disease, a permanent lifetime protection usually re . |