351
The most remarkable feature in connection with the causes of death of the non-Chinese community is the great number of violent deaths which are recorded, no less than 15 out of the 191, or nearly eight per cent., being due to such causes. The following is a tabular statement of these deaths :--
Drowning
Fracture of skull Poisoning
.8
.2
..1
Cut-throat (suicide)...............1 Bullet wound....... Hæmorrhage from wounds ......1
1
Traumatic Meningitis 1.
The average age at death in these cases was 26.3 years.
The deaths among the non-Chinese community comprise persons of the most varied nationalities, for of the 191 deaths, only 92 were Europeans, and 22 of these were non-residents belonging to the mercantile marine and foreign navies, while 30 others have already been accounted for as belonging to the two British services, so that 40 only were European residents, and taking 2,680 as the estimated resident European population, this equals a death-rate of 14.9 per 1,000; the remaining 99 deaths were distributed, racially, as follows:--
Portuguese Indians.......in
Japanese
Malay Manila-men
40
48
33
8
5
3
Negroes
Total.............
99
The 92 European deaths were distributed as follows:-
British
German
French
Russian
Norwegian
Swiss
Total...............
65
12
*2*ONN
5
92
The following is a list of the causes of death of the 40 European members of the resident civil population:-
Accidents...
Heart disease.............................. .......................................... Thoracic Aneurysm.......
Phthisis..
Other chest diseases...
Diseases of the Liver.
39
+9
Malarial Fever
....
Kidneys......
Rheumatic Fever..........
6
2
1
Ulcers.
Dysentery
3
.....
Other intestinal diseases
2
Peritonitis
Septicemia (puerperal).
Miscarriage
Premature birth...................
Infantile convulsions.
Old age
Total...............
40
Intestinal diseases are apparently the most to be feared here, as in all tropical climates, and great care is needed to avoid unripe fruit or unwholesome food and contaminated drinking water, which are probably the two most potent factors in the production of these diseases.
The risks of pregnancy are also very great, owing apparently to a marked susceptibility to septic infection, and I would strongly advise residence in a detached house at the Peak, as the safest course "to adopt during such a critical period as the puerperium.
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