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HEALTH

free of charge two farewell pavilions for the performance of last rites, and transport of coffins to certain public cemeteries for interment.

RESEARCH

The main lines of non-university research continued to be carried out by the Hong Kong Government Institute of Pathology and covered the fields of pathology, virology and bacteriology. Liver disease, particularly recurrent pyogenic cholangitis and its effect on the intrahepatic bile ducts, is the subject of closer study. The collab- orative work on salivary gland tumours under the auspices of World Health Organization continues. The aetiology of viral respiratory infections in children is now being worked out in the co-operative study with World Health Organization. Serological assessment of attenuated live measles vaccine, given in children in 1966, revealed good response and the antibody levels were being followed-up in 1967. In the field of tuberculosis the controlled trial, conducted jointly by the Government Chest Service and the Medical Research Council to assess the efficacy of thiacetazone in the treatment of tuberculosis, is nearing completion. Preliminary trials on the new slide culture technique for early determination of sensitivity of tubercle bacilli to various drugs have been successful. This sensitivity test is now used in the collaborative study of policies of chemotherapy in Hong Kong. Research on cholera is directed on antigenicity of locally isolated strains of non-agglutinable vibrios and study of V. cholerae mutants.

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