Report of the Medical Officer of Health / Municipality of Colombo.

  • Colombo (Sri Lanka). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1940]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Medical Officer of Health / Municipality of Colombo. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/18 (page 10)
    XX—Dysentery. 247 town cases were registered, exclusive of 39 Jail cases. The number of deaths corrected for non-residents was 74 as against 90 for the previous year. The distribution by type of the cases and deaths was as follows :— Amoebic Bacillary Not specified Total ... No. of Cases. 62 87 98 247 No of Deaths. 19 37 18 74 The crude and corrected death-rates were 0*41 and 0*23 per 1,000 population. XXI.—Diarrhoea and Enteritis. 744 deaths from diarrhoea and enteritis were registered as against 766 for the previous year. There were 349 deaths of children under 2 years from this cause. Exclusive of non-residents, the number of deaths was 529 as against 575 for the previous year. The crude and corrected death-rates were 2*27 and 1*62 as against 2*38 and 1*78 per 1,000 population for the previous year. XXII.—Diphtheria. Seventy-three cases were reported during the year as compared with 68 during the previous year. The bacteriological examination gave positive results in culture in all these 73 cases. Subsequent tests for virulence gave positive results only in 13 cases. Further investigations will have to be carried out before an opinion is expressed on these cases reported as diphtheria. XXIII.—Measles. There were 543 cases of measles, exclusive of 22 Jail cases, as against 536 for the previous year. There were 4 deaths from this cause, all of town residents, 3 of them due to secondary broncho-pneumonia and one due to enteritis following measles. XXIV.—Chickenpox. 1,043 cases of chickenpox were registered, exclusive of 314 Jail cases, as against 1,705 cases for the previous year. No deaths were registered. XXV.—Mumps. 135 town cases were registered, exclusive of 128 Jail cases, as against 239 cases for the previous year. There were no deaths from this cause. V. NADARAJAH, L.R.C.P. & S. (Edin.), L.R.F.P. & S. (Glas.), D.T.M. & H. (Bond.), D.P.H. (Eng.). March 10, 1941. Medical Officer of Health, Epidemiology and Vital Statistics.