Annual report of the Director, Medical & Health Department / Colony of Mauritius.

  • Mauritius. Medical and Health Department.
Date:
[1902]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Director, Medical & Health Department / Colony of Mauritius. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    War against these rodentg, a very difficult task in this Island where they thrive so well, has been unceasingly carried an : (a) by means of a special gang of men employed for that purpose in Port Louis and in the townships of Rose Hill, Beau Bassin and Quatre Bornes ; (b) by the offer of a premium of 10 cents per rat in town and in the country ; and (c) by the use of rats bane which has been extensively re¬ sorted to. An attempt was made to introduce owls for that purpose, but the result has not been successful. Evacuation of infected premi- ifies has also been practised and inoculation with Yersin’s serum as a prophylactic has been strongly recommended. This serum has also been largely used in the treatment of plague cases in the lazarets. AH,these points will be discussed at greater length in special reports. The following zymotic diseases deserve a short notice : — f ‘ Measles.—This disease which had prevailed in a mild form at the close of 1901, gradually spread throughout the Island in 1902, and, during the cold weather, towards the middle of the year, severe cases were observed. There were 98 patients treated for that complaint in the Public Hospitals with only one death, 540 cases were notified in accordance with the Infectious Diseases Ordinance, and 64 deaths were ascribed to it. While the latter figure is probably correct, the former is quite inaccurate. It is known that many cases were diagnosed as G-erman measles and consequently not reported, and that a large number still, not having been seen by any medical man owing to the mildness of the attack, were never notified. Diphtheria. — There were seven cases of that disease treated in the hospitals, two of which ended fatally ; but the total number of cases notified was 19 and the deaths 8. The antidiphtheritic serum has proved most efficient in the treatment of the disease when the patients have been ino 'ulated with it early in the attack, and the deaths in the Hospitals were due to the advanced stage of the disease at which medical assistance was applied for. Scarlet Fever. — Three cases have been notified, they occurred among the Military. The disease is practically un¬ known in the Island, sporadic cases having only so far been observed at several years’ interval. Influenza.—The number of admissions, 772, into the Hos¬ pitals for that complaint which is now endemic in the Island, has been much less than in the previous year when the figure was 1300, and the mortality among these cases was only 2.44 against 3.66 o/o in 1901 ; but much harm is still done by this insidious complaint which frequently lays the foundation for attacks of other diseases and which is partly answerable ap¬ parently for many cases of phthisis. Tuberculosis.—The number of admissions in the Hospitals from this disease, 1,133, shows an increase of 228 over the .figure of the previous year.