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Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
105. This disease continues to rank second to broncho-pneumonia as the principal cause of death. It is probable that some of the cases of the latter were of tuberculous origin.
106. The total number of deaths was 2,237; that for 1934 was 2,179. The death rate per mille was 2.31, the same as that for the previous year.
107. There is need for more hospital or infirmary accommodation for tuberculosis patients, especially for those of the poorer classes.
Smallpox.
108. Every year in the cold season, this disease manifests itself in outbreaks which are sometimes sporadic, sometimes epidemic. Whatever the prevalence, there is always a tendency for the morbidity rate to decline or disappear with the advent of summer. In the year under review, there were 61 cases and 44 deaths. 18 cases only were treated in hospital; the remainder did not come under the notice of the authorities until after death.
109. The vaccination campaign was continued, and during the year, 342,201 persons were vaccinated. Valuable assistance was afforded by the St. John Ambulance Brigade and by the Chinese Public Dispensaries. Both bodies engaged in active propaganda, and through their efforts, many were persuaded who otherwise would have kept aloof. The various sections of the Brigade again carried out street vaccination with excellent results.
110. The Chinese have a preference for vaccination in the spring as being the auspicious season, and for a month or two after Chinese New Year, the Chinese Public Dispensaries are crowded with children waiting to be done.
111. The majority of Chinese still hold the opinion that the herbalist treatment of smallpox gives better results than the methods adopted by practitioners qualified in Western medicine. An analysis of the statistics of (a) the Tung Wah Infectious Diseases Hospital, where only herbalist treatment is carried out, and (b) the Government Infectious Diseases Hospital, where western treatment only is provided, shows that this view is not correct. Calculating on the figures for the last 25 years, the case death rate at the Tung Wah was 47.2 per cent, while that at the Government institution was 15.25 per cent.