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3. THE PREVALENCE OF BERI-BERI IN HONGKONG.
The Tung Wah Hospital in this Colony has been founded by the Chinese community and is carried on by them exclusively for their fellow-countrymen, who are freely admitted to its privileges without payment. Owing to this, and also to the fact that they may have their choice of Western or of Chinese methods of treatment, the sick fully avail themselves of the benefits afforded. Thus, con- sidering the out-patient department, and the number of in-patients admitted annually, we are enabled to form some fairly accurate idea of the prevalence of various forms of disease among the Chinese community. For this reason we ven- ture to think that an analysis of the statistics of this hospital with special reference to Beri-beri will prove instructive, not only as affording an index of its prevalence in the Colony, but also as regards certain other points, namely, its incidence amongst the different classes, its age incidence, its mortality and its diagnosis.
We have prepared an analysis of the cases admitted during the ten years, 1895-1904, being the years when a register was kept under Government inspect- ion, and an accurate record made of the diagnosis.
The Admissions.
During this period the number of admissions has been high, and a regular and steady increase has been maintained each year as follows:-
Admissions:-1895,
•
1896,
...
1897, 1898,
Males.
117
***
136
...
166
162
Females.
1
13
100
1899.
1900,
1901,
1902,
1903,
...
265
...
...
15
... 8
...
·
...
16
335
25
...
390
27
-
1904, ...
409 265 667
12
...
17
...
72
Total, ...
2,912
206
...
[N.B. In the Table shewing the Aggregate Admissions month by month the total number of males admitted is set down as 2,890-the difference, represent- ing 22, being nales admitted in the first half of 1895, no note being entered in the Register of the month of admission.]
It will be noticed that there was a steady increase in the number of males admitted during the first four years of the period. There was then a sudden leap representing an increase of 103 in 1899. Thereupon a steady and progressive increase occurred until 1902, then as suddenly there was a drop of 144 in 1903, and the highwater mark was reached in 1904 with 667 admissions. Of those cases admitted in 1904, viz., 739, there were admitted from Singapore 50, from South Africa (repatriated coolies from the Transvaal) 40, from Peru 4, Siam 3, and from Manila and Canton 1 each-the remainder were residents of the Colony. Even deducting these 99, we have a total of 640 admitted who were resident in the Colony and presumably contracted the disease here.
The admission rate of the females was not high, and there was no noteworthy ncrease until the year 1904, when a total of 72 were admitted, being a third of ithe total admissions of females during the decennium. These were all, practically, residents.
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