Table 1 Mortality and morbidity of vaccine preventable diseases in England and Wales.
| Annual cases in the pre‐vaccine era | Annual mortality in the pre‐vaccine era | Current estimates of number of cases | Current estimates of mortality | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diphtheria | 61 000 cases in 1940 | 1 in 20 (mortality rates up to 1 in | 56 cases from 1986–2002 | Only 2 deaths between |
| 5 have been reported in epidemics) | 1986 and 2002 | |||
| Tetanus | Not available | 1–9 out of 10 | Approx 186 cases from | No cases or deaths in children |
| 1984–2002. 8 cases | under 5 years. No deaths of | |||
| reported in 2003 | any age reported in 2003 | |||
| Pertussis | 120 000 cases per year (1950s) | 1 in 500 babies with pertussis | 1000 cases in 2002 | 0–9 deaths per year |
| Incidence rate of 150/100 000 | ||||
| Polio | 8000 cases of paralysis during | 1 in 1000 affected children | No endemic cases since | Nil |
| epidemics (early 1950s) | develop paralysis. 1 in 20 | 1984. 41 cases from | ||
| Incidence of 2–30/100 000 | hospitalised patients die | 1985–2002 | ||
| Haemophilus | 803 cases in 1991 | 1 in 20 with Hib meningitis | 21 cases in 1998 | Not available |
| influenzae | (20/100 000 children | (about 30 deaths per year) | (0.65/100 000 children | |
| type b | under 5 years) | under 5 years of age) | ||
| Serogroup C | 1500 reported cases in | 150 deaths (5–10% of cases) | 120 cases in 2002–2003 | 20 deaths in 2002–2003 |
| Neisseria | 1998–9 (extrapolated from | |||
| meningitidis | laboratory confirmed cases) | |||
| Streptococcus | Currently 5000–6000 cases of | 10% mortality from pneumococcal | Vaccine introduced | Not available |
| pneumoniae | invasive disease per year | meningitis under 2 years of age | in late 2006 | |
| 250–350 cases of meningitis | ||||
| per year | ||||
| Measles | 160 000–800 000 cases per | 1 in 2500 deaths (100 deaths | 191 cases confirmed | 1 death since 1992 and 1 |
| year in 1960s | per year) and 1 in 1000 with | in 2004 | or 2 cases of SSPE per year | |
| encephalitis and 20 cases of SSPE | ||||
| per year (rate of 1 in 25 000) | ||||
| Mumps | 1200 hospital admissions per | Not usually fatal. Most frequent | 8130 cases confirmed | Not available |
| year. Incidence rate of | cause of viral meningitis in children | in 2004 | ||
| 130/100 000 | (1 in 200–5000) and acquired | |||
| deafness (1 in 20 000) | ||||
| Rubella | 167 infections in pregnancy in | 1 in 6000 develop encephalitis | 14 cases confirmed in | Not available |
| 1987. Incidence of disease | 2004. 1 infection in | |||
| of 150/100 000 | pregnancy in 2003 |
This table has been compiled using data from http://www.hpa.org.uk and from Immunisation against infectious disease ‐ the green book, found at http://www.dh.gov.uk. SSPE, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.