37. With the gradual decline in the number of attendances, increas- ing attention is being paid to the public health aspect of tuberculosis. During the year one Health Sister and six Health Visitors were posted to the Tuberculosis Service to supervise the work of a total of 58 Tuberculosis Workers whose duties consist of contact tracing and home visiting. It is hoped that this measure will ensure a decrease in the defaulter rate amongst those attending for out-patient treatment and that appropriate emphasis will be placed on the examination of contacts.
38. The high incidence of primary and secondary drug resistance in Hong Kong has been demonstrated by research undertaken in conjunc- tion with the Medical Research Council in Britain. Results of these investigations indicated that the level of drug resistance in Hong Kong was probably the highest in the World, 40% of the organisms inves- tigated showing a resistance to one or more of the first line drugs commonly used in ambulatory chemotherapy. A register of resistant cases was kept at the main clinics. During the year a total of 917 cases were registered, of which 764 were bacteriologically resistant to at least one drug, and these patients were entered on the waiting list for admis- sion to hospital for treatment with 'second-line' drugs,
39. The work of hospitals dealing with tuberculosis cases is re- viewed elsewhere in this report.
nil. Arrangements were made to transfer the functions of the Malaria Bureau to the Urban Services Department with effect from 1st April, 1966.
Venereal Diseases
SOCIAL HYGIENE SERVICE
(See tables 24-28)
42. The incidence of early infectious syphilis showed a reduction in 1965. It is gratifying to note that this marked the second consecutive year of reduction. The number of latent syphilitic cases showed a slight increase while the incidence of gonorrhoea was about the same as in the previous year. It is encouraging to note that the incidence in the teenage group of the population has not risen in the manner experienced in many other parts of the world. The trends over the past ten years are illustrated in Figures 8 to 10.
DON'
FIGURE B
SYPHILIS 1956-1965
160
INCIDENCE RATE
CASES
140
MALARIA BUREAU
(Sec table 23)
40. The Malaria Bureau continued routine control operations for the protection of the population in Hong Kong Island, the urban area of Kowloon and also in certain circumscribed rural areas of the New Territories. The cost of control measures during the year was 38 cents per head of population protected. With a view to assessing the degree of malaria endemicity in the unprotected areas, malariometric, mosquito and parasite surveys were also pursued by field and laboratory staff.
41. The incidence of malaria continued to decline, notifications being approximately eighty per cent of those in 1964. The results of anti-larval operations, as checked by routine adult mosquito catches and larval collections, were satisfactory and the incidence of natural malaria transmission in the controlled areas continued to be virtually
14
TOTAL CASES
1,000
2,000
1,000
1956 51
т
SN
59
161 42
15
12
#
+120
65
-100
B0
-50
-40
INCIDENCE RATE PER 100,000 POPULATION OVER AGE IS
-20
0