Contagious Diseases in the Belgrade Region

Abstract

Data from records on population affected by contagious diseases in the period from 1991 to 1996 are entered in the computer data base and are managed by the Epidemiology corps of the City Public Health Institute. These data are used to serve the operative needs of the epidemiological corps in order to control contagious diseases within the district. They are analysed to obtain an insight into the problem of contagious diseases in general, and each individual disease in particular, while monitoring the distribution of diseases by gender, age and commune. In the period from 1991 to 1996 no person in Belgrade was down with a particularly dangerous contagious disease. The lowest number of the diseased was registered in 1991 (14788) and the highest in 1994 (27368). In 1996, the number of the diseased was higher by 33% than in 1991. Among the most widely spread contagious diseases was chicken pox (its share ranging from 22.5% to 54.6%), contagious diarrhea (from 7.4% to 17.3%), salmonellosis (from 2.9% to 6.1%), angina (from 2.6% to 5.6%). In the period reviewed, the above four diseases were among the ten most frequently incurred contagious diseases. In the course of 1993, measles fell within the group of ten and acquired epidemic proportions. The disease affected 3524 inhabitants of Belgrade (44. 7% children below 14 years of age and 32% young people from 15 to 19 years of age). The epidemic was caused by the discontinuation of regular vaccination of children against measles caused by the shortage of imported vaccination and by population migration. In the same year, the epidemic of rubella also broke out. The epidemic extended to 1994 and 1995. A breakdown of the diseased by gender ranged from 51.0% to 52.9% for males and from 47.1 % to 49.0% for females. Majority of the diseased were in the age groups 5-9 and 0-4 years while the least number of the diseased were among the aged. The youngest population was most frequently affected by chicken pox (from 35.6% to 69.4% of the overall number of those stricken by the disease), contagious diarrhea (from 4.5% to 17.5%), salmonellosis (from 3.1% to 7.4% ), angina (from 3.4% to 9.7%) and scarlet fever (from 3.1% to 7.3%). During the period reviewed, 69 people died from contagious diseases. Mortality from contagious diseases was lowest in 1992 and 1993 (3.1 and 3.4 per 1,000,000). It gradually rose to reach the highest value in 1996 (12.6% per 1,000,000). The largest number of people affected was reported in the communes of Novi Beograd, Zemun and Čukarica.