HEALTH
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community hygiene. Free inoculation is offered and the usual control measures are enforced. Special attention is paid to the detection of carriers among food handlers.
Poliomyelitis, which had already shown a low incidence in 1966, showed a further decrease in 1967, and only five cases were reported during the year. This satisfactory position is mainly due to a combined vaccination programme consisting of giving one dose of Type I poliovaccine, soon after birth, followed by a full course of two doses of 'balanced' trivalent vaccine at three and five months of age. Approximately 77 per cent of new-born infants received one dose of Type I poliovaccine soon after birth and more than half of these children subsequently received two doses of the 'balanced' trivalent vaccine at maternal and child health centres. A further proportion was protected by these means in the course of annual Colony-wide campaigns.
Measles is usually most prevalent during the cooler months and outbreaks normally occur in alternate years. The 1966-7 epidemic reached its peak in the first three months of 1967, and then in- cidence of the disease began to decline. The high case fatality ratio among notified cases reflects the incompleteness of notification and, furthermore, a high percentage of the deaths was reported from public mortuaries, indicating that majority of the cases did not seek early medical attention; mortality was mainly due to bronchopneumonia encountered too late for treatment to be effective. Health education efforts are continuing to encourage parents to seek earlier medical advice. Follow-up study of measles vaccine trials was carried out during the year, and action is being taken to make the vaccine available to children of the susceptible
age group.
PORT HEALTH SERVICE
The Port Health Service enforces the International Sanitary Regulations, as embodied in the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance and Prevention of the Spread of Infectious Diseases Regulations 1955. The service provides inoculation and vaccination facilities for international travellers, renders medical assistance to arrivals and transmits medical advice by radio to ships at sea. As part of the constant vigilance maintained to prevent