CO129-564-4 Cholera epidemic 23-8-1937 - 9-4-1938 — Page 33

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of the very poor and destitute classes whose resisting power is

lowered by under-nourishment

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more noticeable among the males.

There were however four European cases and three Indians. No

cases occurred among the Naval or Military forces.

Distribution: All parts of the Colony were affected in-

cluding Kowloon and New Territories, and a number of cases

occurred among the boat population. The majority of the cases

occurred in the congested areas bordering the waterfront in the

City of Victoria and similar districts in Kowloon.

As

Spread of Infection: The disease undoubtedly was intro-

duced from Canton, between which city and this Colony there is

normally a considerable human traffic both by stemer and train

amounting to about 8,000 arrivals and 8,000 departures daily.

a result of the Sino-Japanese conflict and the periodic air raids

that were made upon Canton the numbers coming into the Colony

increased enormously with a corresponding decrease in the numbers

that travelled in the opposite direction. Figures kindly supplied

by Hon. Harbour Master and Manager, Kowloon-Canton Railway, show

that there was an excess of arrivals from nearby ports including

Canton, Macao, West River, Swatow, Amoy, Pakhoi and Hoihow, over

departures of over 40,000 in the month of August and about 20,000

inSeptember. Arrivals from these ports, in the incubation

period, would in due course be stricken down and before admission

to hospital or death would have passed on the disease to others

by the "contact" process. The habits of the poorer people and

the intense overcrowding facilitated this mode of spread.

There was at no time any suspicion or indication that the

main water supplies were contaminated.

Bacteriological Institute Activities.

The staff of the Bacteriological Institute worked at high

pressure throughout the epidemic.

The total number of Cholera stools examined for the presence