HONGKONG.
643
No. 33
1901
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH ON THE EPIDEMIC OF BUBONIC FEVER (PLAGUE) DURING THE HALF-YEAR ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1901.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
To the President of the
SANITARY BOARD OFFICES,
HONGKONG, July 20th, 1901.
SANITARY BOARD.
SIR,I have the honour to subinit, for the information of the Beard, the following Report upou the epidemic of Bubonic Fever (Plague) during the half-year ending June 30th, 1901.
Cases. The total number of cases reported during the half-year has been 1,488, of which 26 were Europeans and 1,415 were Chinese, the remaining 47 being other Asiatics. A large number of Chinese however left the Colony as soon as they felt at all ill, some of whom showed unmistakeable signs of the disease on arrival at Canton and its neighbourhood.
Deaths. The total number of deaths recorded during the half-year was 1,417, of which 9 were Europeans, 1,376 Chinese, and the remaining 32 other Asiatics. The latter comprised 14 Indians, 2 Parsees, 10 Asiatic Portuguese, 3 Malays, 2 Japanese, and 1 Enrasian.
The death rate among the Europeans was therefore 34.6 per cent., while among the Chinese it was 97.2 per cent., and among the other Asiatics 68.1 per cent.; the total mortality being 95.2 per cent. This bigh rate is largely accounted for by the fact that 21.7 per cent. of the Chinese cases were dead bodies found in the Streets or in the Harbour.
The percentage of Chinese admitted to Hospital-including the Tung Wah Branch Hospital- was 35.1 per cent., while the percentage of other Asiatics that went to Hospital was 80.8 per cent. The death rate among the Chinese admitted to Hospital was 88.5 per cent. as against the general Chinese mortality of 97.2 per cent. This ought to convince the Chinese--if anything will—that admis- sion to Hospital is to their advantage.
The death rate during each epidemic has been as follows:-
1894
1896
1898
1899
1900
1901
Mortality.
l'ercentage 192.7
89.5
89.0
96.1
95.5
95.9
have been more or less must be admitted that
European Cases.-Most of the European cases during the present epid directly associated with the finding of dead rats upon the premises, althou many dead rats have at the same time been found in European offices and dwellings in which the disease has not broken out. CANTLIE states moreover "that in certain limited outbreaks, such as that recently (1900) experienced at Glasgow, the rat has not been proved to be infected at all;
on the other hand ASHBURTON THOMPSON states, in reference to the outbreak in Sydney in 1900, "that the infection was disseminated by rats appears tolerably certain." The following is a very
The following is a very brief summary of the European cases :—
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The first Europeans to be attacked were three Assistants in a drug store-two of whom were reported on the same date, and the third a few days later; two of these patients succumbed to the disease. A considerable number of Chinese women are employed by this firm in packing drugs for the Chinese market, and it is more than possible that they may have introduced the infection into the building.
A
The next European case to occur was an employee at the Naval Yard, who had been more or less in ill-health since he arrived in the Colony a year previously, and who died of the disease. large number of Chinese are employed in the Naval Yard, some of whom had died of the disease, and it is believed that the infection was contracted from one of them. This man would appear to have infected the building in which he lived, as subsequently three other European cases occurred there, all of whom recovered. On the day following the report of the above case, another Euro- pean employee at the Naval Yard was reported to be suffering from Plague, and in the block of buildings in which he resided, four other European cases subsequently occurred, one being the wife of the first patient, and two of the others being husband and wife, while in addition, one European who had resided there, and one Asiatic Portuguese who had been employed there, also contracted the disease. There were also three Chinese cases in this block of buildings, one of which occurred two days previous to the first European case. Of the above six European cases, only one
died.