M 33
PART II.-HEALTH CONDITIONS.
GENERAL REMARKS.
84. In the absence of some general system of registration of sickness, the only sources of information available for gauging the state of the public health in this Colony are the returns relating to deaths, the notifications of infectious diseases and the records of Government and Chinese hospitals. Judging from the death returns the health of the Colony was not quite so good as that of the previous year. The crude death rate was 22.90 per mille as compared with 20.93 for 1934.
85. Respiratory diseases accounted for 41.62 per cent of the total deaths; the percentage for 1934 was 39.97. The principal diseases causing death were broncho-pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchitis, infantile diarrhoea and diarrhoea.
86. The overcrowded houses, the expectorating habits of the people, and poverty furnish sufficient explanation for the prevalence of respiratory troubles.
MALARIA.
87. This disease which in the early days of the Colony was the great cause of death and from which Hong Kong derived its reputation of unhealthiness has now practically disappeared from the populous centres of Victoria and Kowloon as the result of the destruction of the breeding places of the carriers through efficient drainage. There is still some malaria in the outskirts of the two towns and a considerable amount in the rural areas of both the Island and Mainland.
88. Investigations have proved that swamps, ponds and other collections of water in the open plains, are more or less harmless and that the real danger lies within mosquito flight distance of the feet of hills and of valleys where collections of spring water in pockets, pools, swamps and streams form the breeding places of Anopheles Maculatus, Anopheles Minimus and Anopheles Jeyporiensis.
89. Why it is so we do not know but spring water which has not lost its sparkle does have an attraction for these three species. As a rule such water has a faint acid reaction due to dissolved carbonic acid gas. When it loses its CO2 and becomes flat it ceases to attract.
90. For many years the chief Vector in the Colony and New Territories was believed to be A. Maculatus. The researches of Dr. Jackson have proved this to be incorrect. A. Maculatus is a carrier but is of far less importance in the spread of malaria than A. Minimus and A. Jeyporiensis.
- M 33
PART II.-HEALTH CONDITIONS.
GENERAL REMARKS.
84.. In the absence of some general system of registration of sickness, the only sources of information available for gauging the state of the public health in this Colony are the returns relating to deaths, the notifications of infectious diseases and the records of Government and Chinese hospitals. Judging from the death returns the health of the Colony was not quite so good as that of the previous year. The crude death rate was 22.90 per mille as compared with 20.93 for 1934.
85. Respiratory diseases accounted for 41.62 per cent of the total deaths; the percentage for 1934 was 39.97. The principal diseases causing death were broncho-pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchitis, infantile diarrhoea and diarrhoea.
86. The overcrowded houses, the expectorating habits of the people, and poverty furnish sufficient explanation for the pre- valence of respiratory troubles.
MALARIA.
87. This disease which in the early days of the Colony was the great cause of death and from which Hong Kong derived its reputation of unhealthiness has now practically disappeared from the populous centres of Victoria and Kowloon as the result of the destruction of the breeding places of the carriers through efficient drainage. There is still some malaria in the outskirts of the two towns and a considerable amount in the rural areas of both the Island and Mainland.
88. Investigations have proved that swamps, ponds and other collections of water in the open plains, are more or less. harmless and that the real danger lies within mosquito flight distance of the feet of hills and of valleys where collections of spring water in pockets, pools, swamps and streams form the breeding places of Anopheles Maculatus, Anopheles Minimus and Anopheles Jeyporiensis.
89. Why it is so we do not know but spring water which has not lost its sparkle does have an attraction for these three species. As a rule such water has a faint acid reaction due to dissolved carbonic acid gas. When it loses its C 02 and becomes flat it ceases to attract.
90. For many years the chief Vector in the Colony and New Territories was believed to be A. Maculatus. The researches of Dr. Jackson have proved this to be incorrect. A. Maculatus is a carrier but is of far less importance in the spread of malaria than A. Minimus and A. Jeyporiensis,
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