M: 63
Small-pox.
Hongkong is never for long free from this disease which occurs principally in the cool season.
The Chinese are not adverse to vaccination but are very careless in protecting themselves by such means.
It needs a panic caused by the unusual prevalence of the disease to induce the Chinese to come forward in large numbers to be vaccinated,
Owing to our changing population the number of susceptible persons tends constantly to increase. The last severe Epidemic of Small-pox occurred in the winter of 1916 to 1917 and a Special Vaccination Campaign resulted in some 300,000 Chinese being vaccinated.
As the Colony was threatened with a Small-pox Epidemic early in the year, the disease being prevalent in Shanghai, a special vaccination campaign in January resulted in 127,302 persons being vaccinated,
The following table shows the monthly prevalence of Small-pox in Hongkong for the last ten years,
Month 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 January. 26 2 1 358 February 3 34 176 March 27 29 11 63 38 April 18 12 7 72 18 May 10 19 70 1 June 4 July 0 1 August 1 September. 0 0 16 October, 1 99 November. 1 68 December 328 Total 111 110 34 712 595 32 27 34 191 212Influenza.
Hongkong in common with the rest of the world has suffered from the pandemic of Influenza during recent years.
In the years 1916 and 1917 only one death from this disease was recorded each year. The disease appears to have become epidemic towards the middle of 1918.