PUBLIC HEALTH
155
Future government plans include extension of the clinic services which at present are overloaded beyond the limits of safe and efficient operation.
Venereal Diseases. Compared with 1956 there was a fall of some 2% in the total number of new patients reporting to all social hygiene clinics.
The incidence of infectious syphilis has continued to fall, as figures for the last few years show:
Primary syphilis Secondary syphilis
Total for all Clinics
Early latent syphilis
Late latent syphilis
Early congenital syphilis
-
1954 1955
1956 1957
393
153
93
17
54
34
20
7
2,209
1,044
733
450
3,983
2,853
2,616
2,532
24
19
19
3
A very slight rise in the number of cases of cardiovascular syphilis (late) is now noted, and, with industrialization pro- ceeding fast in Hong Kong, this rise may become more noticeable in the next ten years.
-
As regards gonorrhoea the trend is also downwards, with a fall of approximately 6% compared to the previous year, almost entirely due to a fall in the number of male patients.
There has been a satisfactory reduction in the incidence of chancroid.
Totals for all cases of Venereal Disease (other than syphilis) examined at Clinics
1955
1956
1957
Gonorrhoea
11,309
10,609
9,881
Chancroid
2,468
1,614
685
Lymphogranuloma Venereum
249
140
178
Non-Gonococcal-Urethritis
869
776
800
Ante-natal Blood Tests from patients under the care of private midwives showed that the percentage positive rate was less than 2.6%-a new low figure for this section of the population.