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primary and secondary syphilis rate during the year, but the incidence in the teenage group of the population has not risen in the manner expe- rienced in the U.S.A., the United Kingdom, Australia and Europe. The trends over the past ten years are shown in Appendix 7.

180. The incidence of gonorrhoea remained fairly stable, but further control of the disease remains a problem because of difficulty in the diagnosis of chronic cases, especially in females. Penicillin is normally the first method of treatment but resistance and anaphylaxis continue to increase. Other antibiotics have strict limitations due to higher costs and difficulties in the supervision of administration.

181. The incidence of latent syphilis continued to fall. This is to be expected if the overall diagnosis and treatment of syphilis over the past ten years has been effective.

182. Ante-natal blood tests for syphilitic infection are carried out as a routine on pregnant women attending Maternal and Child Health Centres, and Table 22 shows the results over the past five years. The value of this routine investigation is reflected in the low figures for con- genital syphilis in babies under one year of age.

TABLE 22

V.D.R.L EXAMINATIONS IN EXPECTANT MOThers 1959–63

No. of tests (Clinics & Hospitals) ... % of Positive rates .....

1959 46,932

No. of tests (Private Midwives) % of Positive

h

2.6 6.269

༈-

Registered live births

1960 52,068 2.3 6.805 23

1.9 104.579 110,667

1961

1962

$1,449

1,6 6,940

45,159 2.2 7.645

1963 31,544 1.6

1.4

I.S

108,726

111,905

3,690 1.1 115,263

183. The incidence of venereal disease in prostitutes, who attend voluntarily at the Social Hygiene Clinics either through contact tracing or for periodic investigation, has been under review since 1959. Table 23 sets out the results to date.

TABLE 23

VENEREAL DISEASE IN PROSTITUTES 1959-63

No, of Prostitutes

Syphilis

Year

atending for the

Gonorrhoea

Early

Lule

first time

Jarent

fotent

1959

1,086

235

63

96

1960

932

124

69

146

ITN

1961

806

124

31

66

1962

917

4

155

44

60

1963

938

140

52

**

42

38-30

Leprosy

184. During 1963 there were one full-time and one part-time clinics in Hong Kong, four part-time clinics in Kowloon and weekly clinics held in certain outlying centres in the New Territories. New cases of leprosy treated numbered 258, of which 100 presented with lepromatous, 144 with tuberculoid and 14 with diamorphous manifestations of the disease. Of the infectious cases, 134 were admitted to the Hei Ling Chau Leprosarium. This institution is maintained by the Hong Kong Auxiliary of the Mission to Lepers and a very close fiaison is maintained between the staff of the Mission and the Social Hygiene Service.

185. Some severely ulcerated tuberculoid cases were admitted to Orthopaedic Units at Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals. while others were admitted to Hei Ling Chau. A weekly Ulcer Clinic is held in Hong Kong, during which plaster casts, footwear and special splints, devised by the Orthopaedic Appliance Section, are fitted. Hei Ling Chau provides training facilities for the deformed, and the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation has been able to take post-surgical cases for rehabilitation and trade training,

186. The Almoners attached to the Service assist patients in Hei Ling Chau and in outpatient clinics with various problems arising from domestic worries, resettlement and employment. In this task they receive help from the Social Welfare Department and from various religious and private welfare agencies.

187. The prejudice against employment of the cured leper is begin- ning to disappear through the efforts of welfare workers and educa- tional programmes for the general public and employers. Government and private employers in 1963 absorbed into full or partial employment approximately 100 cured cases. Comprehensive and effective recording of the work potential of patients attending clinics was put into action during the year.

Dermatology

188. Apart from dermatological clinics held at all Social Hygiene centres, consultant services are provided for in-patients at all Government Hospitals and also for the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. Two out- patient clinics are held each week at both the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals and sessions for medical students are also held twice weekly. Lectures in dermatology are given to student nurses at Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals, Health Nurses, Student Physio- therapists, Health Inspectors and Social Welfare Trainees. During the

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