XN000022-1973-10-22 — Page 3

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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