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that the rise and fall in plague figures have not been satisfactorily explained. We know that plague is primarily a disease of rats communicated to man through the rat flea, but we have to admit that we know little of the reason for the rise and fall in the incidence of disease among rodents.
SMALLPOX.
124. Every year during the winter months this disease manifests itself in outbreaks which are sometimes epidemic and sometimes sporadic, to disappear with the advent of summer.
125. During the year 566 cases were reported, of which 392 were notified through the Medical Officers in charge of Mortuaries, that is after death had occurred. The total number of deaths was 433. Allowing for a case death rate of 25 per cent for all ages in this well-vaccinated Colony the real number of cases was 433 x 4 or 1732. If this be the true figure then 67.3 per cent of the cases evaded discovery by the sanitary authorities and went through the various stages of this very infectious disease in one or other of the overcrowded tenement houses.
126. Of the 392 mortuary cases many were corpses dumped in the streets at night and conveyed to the Mortuary next morning by the Police. The total number of dumped bodies was 1,347 so that the claim that the chief cause of dumping is concealment of infectious cases for fear of the attention of the Sanitary Authorities cannot be substantiated. It is, however, true that fear of punishment for concealment is one cause of dumping.
127. That a child should not be vaccinated until it has passed its second Chinese New Year is a belief prevalent among the local people, and immediately after the New Year the dispensaries are crowded with mothers bringing their infants to be done. A child born just after New Year is thus two years of age before it is vaccinated. In spite of the law requiring children to be vaccinated within six weeks of birth many remain undone until the so-called propitious period, and thus there is always in the Colony sufficient suitable soil for the growth and development of the smallpox virus.
128. The concealment of cases, the dissemination of the virus by fomites and contacts and the existence of a sufficiency of suitable soil explains the continuance of smallpox despite the number of vaccinations which are done yearly.
129. The total number vaccinated during the year under review was 545,850 as compared with 244,789 in 1932 and 154,451 in 1931.
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that the rise and fall in plague figures have not been satisfactorily explained. We know that plague is primarily a disease of rats communicated to man through the rat flea, but we have to admit that we know little of the reason for the rise and fall in the incidence of disease among rodents.
SMALLPOX.
124. Every year during the winter months this disease mani- fests itself in outbreaks which are sometimes epidemic and some- times sporadic, to disappear with the advent of summer.
125. During the year 566 cases were reported, of which 392 were notified through the Medical Officers in charge of Mortuaries, that is after death had occurred. The total number of deaths was 433. Allowing for a case death rate of 25 per cent for all ages in this well vaccinated Colony the real number of cases was 433 x 4 or 1732. If this be the true figure then 67.3 per cent of the cases evaded discovery by the sanitary authorities and went through the various stages of this very infectious disease in one or other of the overcrowded tenement houses.
126. Of the 392 mortuary cases many were corpses dumped in the streets at night and conveyed to the Mortuary next morning by the Police. The total number of dumped bodies was 1,347 so that the claim that the chief cause of dumping is concealment of infectious cases for fear of the attention of the Sanitary Au- thorities cannot be substantiated. It is, however, true that fear of punishment for concealment is one cause of dumping.
127. That a child should not be vaccinated until it has passed its second Chinese New Year is a belief prevalent among the local people, and immediately after the New Year the dispensaries are crowded with mothers bringing their infants to be done. A child born just after New Year is thus two years of age before it is vaccinated. In spite of the law requiring children to be vaccina- ted within six weeks of birth many remain undone until the so-called propitious period, and thus there is always in the Colony sufficient suitable soil for the growth and development of the smallpox virus.
128. The concealment of cases, the dissemination of the virus by fomites and contacts and the existence of a suffi- ciency of suitable soil explains the continuance of smallpox despite the number of vaccinations which are done yearly.
129. The total number vaccinated during the year under review was 545,850 as compared with 244,789 in 1932 and 154,451 in 1931.
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