XN000022-1974-04-06 — Page 7

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SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1974

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HEALTH REPORT FOR FEBRUARY

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HEALTH RETURNS FOR FEBRUARY ISSUED TODAY BY THE MEDICAL

AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT SHOW THAT 10 CHILDREN DIED FROM MEASLES,

A SLIGHT DROP COMPARED WITH THE 11 DEATHS RECORDED IN JANUARY.

NOTIFICATIONS OF NEASLES DURING THE MONTH ROSE TO 384,

COMPARED WITH 367 IN JANUARY, AND 191 IN DECEMBER LAST YEAR.

COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, A SPOKESMAN SAID THEY

EMPHASISED THE NEED FOR PARENTS OF SUSCEPTIBLE CHILDREN BETWEEN

SIX MONTHS AND FIVE YEARS TO HAVE THEM IMMUNISED.

+AS ALREADY ANNOUNCED, THE ANTI-NEASLES CAMPAIGN IS

CONTINUING UNTIL THE END OF MAY, HE STRESSED. +FREE VACCINE

IS AVAILABLE AT ALL MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH CENTRES, NOT

ONLY DURING THIS EXTENDED CAMPAIGN PERIOD, BUT ALSO THROUGHOUT

THE YEAR.+

OF THE 135 OTHER DEATHS RECORDED DURING FEBRUARY, 132

WERE CAUSED BY TUBERCULOSIS, ONE BY AMOEBIASIS, ONE BY CHICKEN-

POX AND ONE BY TETANUS.

THERE WERE 140 NOTIFICATIONS OF CHICKENPOX, A RISE FROM

THE 97 CASES RECORDED IN JANUARY. NOTIFICATIONS OF BACILLARY DYSENTERY ALSO INCREASED FROM 18 IN THE PREVIOUS MONTH TO 25.

NO CASES OF DIPHTHERIA OR POLIOMYELITIS WERE RECORDED,

AND THE INCIDENCE OF THE OTHER COMMUNICABLE DISEASES SHOWED NO

APPRECIABLE VARIATION.

DURING THE MONTH, HONG KONG REMAINED FREE FROM CHOLERA

AND OTHER QUARANTINABLE DISEASES.