PUBLIC HEALTH
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the Health Department, and the exclusion of carriers from employment as food-handlers.
(b) An increase in filtered water supplies during the
summer.
(c) Resettlement of large numbers of squatters in
sanitary housing conditions.
(d) Marked improvement in personal hygiene and
environmental sanitation as a result.
(e) An increase in the number of immunes among the population, following the repeated inoculation campaigns of the past 3 years, and following in- fection and sub-clinical infection.
Malaria. Investigation of the few cases definitely proved to be fresh infections indicated that they had all been con- tracted outside the areas under anti-malarial control.
Measles, although showing a slight decline in notifica- tions, continued to be the principal cause of infant mortality among the notifiable communicable diseases other than tuberculosis.
Poliomyelitis. Except for a sharp rise in incidence during May and June, when 36 cases were notified, the disease occurred sporadically throughout the year, and again affected mainly infants and European newcomers.
Rabies. Constant propaganda, stringent precautions governing the movement of dogs, and insistence on all dogs being protected by inoculation with anti-rabies vaccine, are among the measures taken to eliminate this disease. In each human case the victim had failed to report the bite, and had received no prophylactic treatment. Amongst the animal cases were some involving pigs and cattle. The outbreak was confined to rural areas near the Chinese frontier, and it is suspected that the source of infection may have been stray dogs from neighbouring territory.
Scarlet fever. Normally very rare in Hong Kong, in May 1955 there was a sudden outbreak which attracted immediate attention. The infection, however, did not spread. It is of interest that the peak incidence of both scarlet fever and poliomyelitis occurred within the same period.
Tuberculosis continues to be the principal single cause of death. The case fatality rate has dropped from 64.9% (1946)
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