M 37
# INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
107. During the year there were reported 23 cases of small-pox, 123 cases of cerebro-spinal fever, 375 cases of diphtheria and 418 cases of enteric. There were no cholera cases and no plague.
## Plague.
108. For the last seven years no cases of plague have been reported in Hong Kong. The disappearance of this disease not only from this Colony but from the greater part of China and its decline throughout the world are due to factors which are not understood.
109. Systematic rat-catching and periodical cleansing of houses were carried out throughout the year. Total number of rats collected was 212,947 of which 17,967 were alive, as compared with 192,251 and 21,820 in 1935. The number collected each year shows that there is no diminution in the rat population. All the rats collected were sent to the Public Mortuary for examination. None was found infected.
## Smallpox.
110. 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 23 cases and 16 deaths. 11 cases only were treated in hospital; the remainder did not come under the notice of the authorities until after death.
111. The vaccination campaign was continued and during the year 274,784 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.
112. 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.
113. 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.