M 24
The numbers of cases of infectious disease notified during
the year were:
Bubonic Plague 0 Cholera 0 Small-pox 270 Diphtheria 95 Scarlet Fever 3 Enteric 221 Para-typhoid 3 Relapsing Fever 0 Cerebro-spinal Fever 20 Typhus Yellow Fever Puerperal Fever 1030 Rabies (human) 15 Rabies (animal) 2Small-pox.-Every year during the winter months this disease manifests itself in outbreaks which are sometimes sporadic sometimes epidemic. Whatever be the prevalence there is always a tendency for the morbidity rate to decline or disappear with the advent of summer. Considering its high infectivity, its terrible disfigurement and the frequency of fatalities the indifference shown by the Chinese to the presence of cases in their midst is amazing. All Chinese know small-pox and the presence of a case in a crowded tenement house cannot escape the notice of the occupiers but for some obscure psychological reason they refrain from reporting its presence to the authorities, and more often than not the first notification received by the Medical Officer of Health is that from the Mortuary where the body, dumped in the street at night, has been taken for diagnosis. The sole information received by the Health Authorities concerning the case is the sex of the deceased, the apparent age and the diagnosis. The name, the address, the number of contacts and the period during which the case has been a focus of infection are unknown.
After the 1916-1917 epidemic in an endeavour to stop the practice of dumping and to encourage notification of cases, the Sanitary Board passed a resolution-that patients suffering from small-pox be allowed to be treated in their own houses provided that: -
(a) all cases in the district be notified to the Medical
Officer of Health,
(b) all inmates of the houses be vaccinated:
(c) a notice be posted on the door of the house where
the patient is being treated,
The results did not come up to expectation for the populace ignored the concession and continued their practice of concealing cases and dumping corpses. The practice of allowing cases to remain in the crowded tenement houses has been in vogue 12 years and at least 75 per cent still remain concealed and unnotified. The following table shows details regarding cases and notification: ---
M 24
The numbers of cases of infectious disease notified during
the year were:
Bubonic Plague
Cholera
Small-pox
Diphtheria
Scarlet Fever
Enteric
Para-typhoid
Relapsing Fever
Cerebro-spinal Fever
0
0
270
95
3
221
3
0
20
Typhus
Yellow Fever
Puerperal Fever
Rabies (human)
Rabies (animal)
1030
15
2
Small-pox.-Every year during the winter months this disease manifests itself in outbreaks which are sometimes sporadic sometimes epidemic. Whatever be the prevalence there is always a tendency for the morbidity rate to decline or disappear with the advent of summer. Considering its high infectivity, its terrible disfigurement and the frequency of fatalities the indifference shown by the Chinese to the presence of cases in their midst is amazing. All Chinese know small-pox and the presence of a case in a crowded tenement house cannot escape the notice of the occupiers but for some obscure psychological reason they refrain from reporting its presence to the authorities, and more often than not the first notification received by the Medical Officer of Health is that from the Mortuary where the body, dumped in the street at night, has been taken for diagnosis. The sole information received by the Health Authorities concerning the case is the sex of the deceased, the apparent age and the diagnosis. The name, the address, the number of contacts and the period during which the case has been a focus of infection are unknown.
After the 1916-1917 epidemic in an endeavour to stop the practice of dumping and to encourage notification of cases, the Sanitary Board passed a resolution-that patients suffering from small-pox be allowed to be treated in their own houses provided that' :--
(a) all cases in the district be notified to the Medical
Officer of Health,
(b) all inmates of the houses be vaccinated:
(c)) a notice be posted on the door of the house wher
the patient is being treated,
The results did not come up to expectation for the popul ignored the concession and continued their practice of concea cases and dumping corpses. The practice of allowing cos m remain in the crowded tenement houses has been in vog 12 years and at least 75 per cent still remain conceb-i and unnotified. The following table shows details regarding cases and notification: ---
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