19. Enteric. What has been said of diphtheria applies to enteric. The incubation period being so long and the possible sources of infection so numerous there is little chance of tracing in any cases the source of infection. 418 cases were reported as compared with 319 in 1935.
20. Leprosy. A new Lepers Ordinance (Ordinance No. 25 of 1935) was enacted and passed on the 18th of June, 1935.
Prior to 1935 there was no place set apart in the Colony for use as a leper settlement. In May of 1935, however, temporary arrangements were made whereby lepers could be admitted to the Tung Wah Infectious Diseases Hospital at Kennedy Town. They are fed by the Tung Wah Hospital Committee at Government expense and treated by a Government Medical Officer. There were 129 admissions during 1936 (106 M. 23 F.) of whom 82 were transferred to Sheklung.
21. Rabies. No human cases were reported during the year. One infected dog was reported from the New Territories.
22. Dysentery. During November there occurred a serious epidemic of Shiga Dysentery.
The outbreak commenced on the 8th of November when twelve European children developed symptoms so severe that seven of them subsequently died.
From the 8th up to and including the 19th there were forty-seven cases, all but four of whom were European children under ten years of age. The causative organism was in twenty-five cases proved to be the bacterium dysenteriae of Shiga, in four that of Flexner and in the remainder the organism was not isolated and identified, though in the majority of cases the severity of the symptoms pointed strongly to Shiga infection.
There were altogether eight deaths, seven of which, as mentioned above, were cases which developed symptoms on the 8th. The remaining death was that of a Chinese infant, the son of a Chinese servant engaged in a house where two children had died of the disease.
There being some indication that the infection was borne by milk, the public were advised to boil all milk and the various dairies were instructed to take special precautions. One of them, the Dairy Farm, decided to institute pasteurisation of all milk and cream before issuing, thus obviating any risk there might be of infection spreading from that source.
It having been ascertained that all the twenty-four cases taken ill on the 8th and 9th had consumed a special brand of milk designated "Nursery Milk" issued by the Dairy Farm, special attention was directed to this institution. The fact that thousands of individuals had daily consumed milk from this