auxiliaries, whose main duties consist of contact tracing and home visiting, are attached to the chest service. They are supervised by one senior health visitor and 13 health visitors. Patients have all aspects of the disease thoroughly explained to them by the bealth visitors, and are given explanatory leaflets. Regular attendance for out-patient chemotherapy is regarded as being of paramount importance, and con- siderable emphasis is placed on the follow-up of defaulters, and on ensuring that contacts are examined. The clinics also provide medical social work, contact tracing and supervisory services, and undertake surveys of selected groups such as government employees and prisoners. in co-operation with the radiological service. A regular financial grant is allowed where a family depends on the patient's earnings and no other source of income is available to maintain it during the bread- winner's hospitalization.
79. During the year, attendances al government chest clinics re- mained at the high level of 1,441,958. The standard treatment of tuberculosis was three months of Streptomycin, PAS and INAH followed by intermittent, fully-supervised Streptomycin and high dosage INAH. Intermittent Streptomycin and high dosage INAH have, in the majority of cases, replaced the monthly issues of PAS/INAH tablets as the follow-up treatment of choice. At the end of 1972, there were 4,676 cases on intermittent Streptomycin and INAH compared with 1,752 on PAS/INAH. Although anti-T.B. drugs were extremely efficient, the total duration of treatment remained long, stretching from 18 to 24 months. If a means for shortening the course of treatmeal could be found, this would be of major importance.
The Bacille Calmette-Guerin (B.C.G.) Campoign
80. With the bigh density of the population and comparatively high prevalence of tuberculosis in Hong Kong, B.C.G. has a vital role to play in the prevention of the disease. The B.C.G. campaign, as in previous years, was mainly directed at the new-born, school entrants and school leavers. During the year, 96 per cent of the new-born were given B.C.G. Bearing in mind that the remaining four per cent usually had some contraindication to B.C.G., for example, prematurity, this represented an almost 100 per cent coverage of eligible babies, per- haps the highest in the world. The decline in infant mortality from tuberculosis which resulted is shown in Figure 7.
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FIGURE 7
TUBERCULOSIS MORTALITY AND B.C.G. VACCINATION OF NEW-BORNS 1957–72 (MORTALITY RATES AS PERCENTAGE OF 1957 RATEB)
YELMEKIR
MEG KULPTINGTON DIT ALL
TOREALIM, ALL AGES
W
TRAN
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81. B.C.G. was brought to schools by 10 inoculators divided into five teams for tuberculin testing and the administration of B.C.G. It Lakes approximately two years for all schools to be covered.
82. The work of hospitals dealing with tuberculosis cases is re- viewed elsewhere in this report.
SOCIAL HYGIENE SERVICE
83. The incidence of venereal diseases rose by 12 per cent during 1972. This increase is considered slight, compared with many other parts of the world. The incidence in the teenage group was approxi- mately 6 per cent of the total cases of venereal disease. The trends over past ten years are illustrated in Figures 8 to 10.
84. Case finding continued at a high level, particularly in aute- natal cases where an initial positive serology rate of 0.84 per cent was observed. Of the 208 positive cases referred from ante-natal clinics, only 136 cases, that is, 65.4 per cent, were actually suffering from syphilis. Contact tracing. particularly of infectious syphilis, was continued.
Leprosy
85. New cases of leprosy treated numbered 100, representing a rate of 2.5 per 100,000 of the population. Tuberculoid manifestations
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