ENG-1970 — Page 140

HEALTH

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The enforcement of legislation governing hawkers should be carried out by the Hawker Control Force, established in 1960 to relieve the Police of this responsibility. The Force has an establish- ment of 530 officers and men who operate in the urban hawker areas. In many districts, particularly of Kowloon, the Police still remain the sole authority for control. Plans for improving the conditions of service for the Force and for expanding its establish- ment are currently under consideration.

Two newly constructed abattoirs of modern design are in full operation: one at Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island, and the other at Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon. Each complex, including a wholesale livestock market and quarantine service, can handle 3,000 pigs and 300 cattle in an eight-hour working day.

RESEARCH

The study of Shigella organisms, particularly the antigenic com- ponents in connection with typing is now being carried out. Co-operative study with the World Health Organisation on Cytomegalic virus antibodies in sera will start soon. Investigations are now in progress to evaluate a new selective medium for direct inoculation of untreated sputum to isolate tubercle bacilli. Besides typing of salivary gland tumours in Hong Kong, histochemical studies of these tumours are being done.

A study of the natural history and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was completed and, a new stage classification was proposed. A study of the epidemiology of nasopharyngeal car- cinoma continues. As part of this study an investigation on the association between a herpes-type virus (HTV) infection and nasopharyngeal carcinoma is carried out jointly with the Interna- tional Agency for Research on Cancer and in collaboration with workers overseas. The second phase of the work to study by sero-epidemiological methods the natural history of the herpes- type virus infection has begun. The study is in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute, United States of America, the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, the Health Service of the University of Hong Kong and the Medical and Health Department Institute of Radiology.