2.
Monday, October 22, 1973
DIPHTHERIA NOW ALMOST ERADICATED IN HONG KONG
Medical Spokesman Reports Success Thanks To Public Co-Operation
Diphtheria, one of the main causes of death among children, has
virtually ceased to pose a threat to Hong Kong after years of concerted
effort by the Medical and Health Department to eradicate it.
The last diphtheria case was recorded in September 1972 and since
then none has been reported.
Giving the reasons for the present effective control of the disease,
a spokesman for the department said today this was the outcome of a preventive
programme to which the public had responded well.
An anti-diphtheria campaign providing free inoculation has been
maintained in the last quarter of every year since 1959. In that year, a
diphtheria epidemic had taken a toll of 116 deaths out of 2,087 notifications.
"It has taken Hong Kong 14 years to virtually eradicate diphtheria,
and this is roughly the same time that it has taken other countries to do
"the spokesman said.
the same,
Credit for the success should go to both the department for having
left no stone unturned in the anti-diphtheria fight, and the general public,
without whose acceptance of the need for inoculation the annual reminder drivea
would have made little headway.
The spokesman saw in Hong Kong's battle against diphtheria a number
of special features which made its success unusual by international standards.
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