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Hygiene is taught systematically in all the schools in the Colony. Lectures have been written for this purpose by the Medical Officer of Health for the information and guidance of school teachers and special attention is paid in the lectures on Malaria to the mode of conveyance of the infection by the mosquito, the manner in which the mosquito breeds, and the measures to be adopted for its extermination.
The Military return of admissions for Malaria is given below from which it will be seen that the ratio per 1,000 is only slightly higher than the ratio in 1913 which was the lowest on record. Much of this infection is contracted in rural districts when the men are under training and camping out.
Admissions for Malaria.-European Troops.
Year. Strength. Admissions. Deaths. Invalided. Ratio per 1,000. 1905, 1,370 348 0 1 254.0 1906, 1,515 480 4 15 314.7 1907. 1,416 287 0 12 196.0 1908,.. 2,012 515 0 17 256.0 1909, 1,943 269 2 10 138.4 1910, 1,887 334 1 ... 177.0 1911, 1,849 232 0 ... 125.5 1912, 1,797 151 1 ... 84.0 1913, 1,883 80 ... ... 42.5 1914,... 1,654 87 ... ... 52.6 Average ... 96 ... ... AverageThe admissions for Malaria amongst the Native Troops during 1914 were 565. The ratio of admissions per 1,000 for the last five years were 89.8 in 1910, 318 in 1911, 832 in 1912, 839 in 1913 and 143.77 in 1914.
Beri-beri.
There were 399 deaths (339 in 1913) from this disease during the year, all except two of which were among the Chinese community; the two Non-Chinese cases were Japanese sailors. During the past few years circulars have been distributed to all large employers of coolie labour calling their attention to the fact that Beri-beri is produced by the consumption of white rice as the staple article of diet without a sufficiency of other food and advising that beans should be supplied with the rice when fresh meat or fresh fish cannot be afforded. The influx of thousands of strangers from the neighbouring provinces is a sufficient explanation of the temporary rise in the number of deaths from this disease.
Infectious Diseases.
The total number of cases of infectious disease notified during the year was 2,521 (1,013 in 1913) of which 2,146 were of Plague.
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