ENG-1960 — Page 167

HEALTH

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use of them, and the annual campaign in schools was maintained for the reason that over 40% of reported cases of enteric fever are in children between the ages of five and fourteen years.

Poliomyelitis. Both morbidity and mortality from this disease are gradually increasing though the number of cases reported while in the acute stage is still comparatively small. The establish- ment of an enterovirus laboratory has made two surveys possible to determine the actual incidence of the disease in Hong Kong. The first showed that 2% of children under the age of five were excreting live virus. The subsequent serological investigation showed that 90% of persons, aged five years and over, have antibodies against all of the three types of poliomyelitis virus but that 57% of infants between 6 months and one year of age have no antibodies against any of the three types. These results confirm that transmission and sub-clinical infection are widespread amongst children under five years of age, a fact which had been previously indicated by the occurrence within this age group of 90% of all acute poliomyelitis cases reported amongst the Chinese population.

The Dysenteries. In recent years there has been a gradual in- crease, in step with the population of the Colony, in the number of cases reported of both amoebic and bacillary dysentery. Health Officers carry out much health education in the prevention of these infections amongst those connected with the handling, preparation, and sale of food.

food.

Measles. There was a slight decrease in the number of cases of measles notified during the year. However the case fatality rate remained as high as 27%, and the virus now ranks second only to the tuberculosis organism as a cause of death from infectious disease. It is known to be a mild but widespread infection and the high percentage of fatal cases relates to the number of cases notified rather than to its virulence. The deaths are almost entirely due to severe bronchopneumonia which is encountered too late for treatment to be effective.

Other Communicable Diseases. No marked change occurred in the recorded incidence of other notifiable diseases. Influenza, for which notifications have been made on a voluntary basis since