144
HEALTH
rectally swabbed and 16 contact carriers were confirmed and placed in quarantine. Two of the carriers were members of the patient's family. Ten were children under the age of 10. Intensive sampling of the waters of the tidal river on which the village was situated, and of surrounding ponds used for rearing fresh water fish, pro- duced no cholera vibrios either agglutinable or non-agglutinable. All foodstuffs, particularly fish and fish fry, and other possible sources of infection were also consistently negative. The only com- mon source of infection appeared to be the child contact carriers who played together in the mud banks and swam in the river. The contact carriers were all treated with oral streptomycin and isolated until three successive negative specimens of stool had been obtained. No further clinical cases appeared and the district was declared free of infection on 29th October.
OTHER COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
=.
Notifications of other communicable diseases showed a sharp increase in the incidence of poliomyelitis, of chickenpox and of measles, but there were decreases in the numbers of cases of amoebiasis and diphtheria reported. Although mortality rates were lower for poliomyelitis and measles, the rate for diphtheria in- creased. Nevertheless, the over-all mortality rate was slightly lower than in 1961.
A table showing morbidity and mortality figures of communic- able diseases from 1958-62 is given at Appendix VII.
Prophylactic inoculations. Facilities for free vaccination against smallpox, cholera, typhoid fever and diphtheria were available throughout the year at all Government hospitals, clinics, and centres. No specific campaigns against smallpox or enteric fever were organized as the extensive campaigns against cholera militated against such operations, as well as against the anti-diphtheria campaign. However, special attention was given to smallpox vaccination because of the smallpox situation in neighbouring countries and some 745,000 vaccinations were performed during the year.
Tuberculosis. In spite of continuing satisfactory progress in the field of tuberculosis, the disease remained the principal community health problem in the Colony. Many thousands of unselected examinations carried out each year show that just under two per