Report on the public health / Southern Rhodesia.

  • Southern Rhodesia. Department of Health.
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the public health / Southern Rhodesia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/44 (page 7)
    their breeding1 places are strictly limited. This enables anti-larval measures, which have hitherto failed in the frequently hopeless task of attacking all mosquito breeding places, to be reduced to the practical proposition of attacking only certain defined types of breeding places. In order to give effect to these findings, a pamphlet dealing with malaria, couched in simple language, has been issued by the Government and distributed free of charge throughout the Colony. (3) Diphtheria. During 1934 there were notified 3G European cases of diphtheria and 5 deaths, as compared with 65 cases and 8 deaths during the previous year. It is satisfactory to note this reduction, but it is necessary to emphasise the statements made in my previous reports, that no European child in Southern Rhodesia need suffer from diphtheria, and certainly no child should die from the disease. In the year 1932 the Government brought before the public the know¬ ledge and the means necessary for preventing diphtheria, and pointed out that a method of inoculation which is simple, safe and effective had been evolved for protecting children against this disease. The necessary material for inoculation is provided by the Government at cost price (7s. 9d. post free), and parents are strongly urged to have their children protected by the time they reach their first birthday. Immunisation can, in addition, be employed at any age with satisfactory results. Diphtheria is present in practically every civilised country in the world, and the virulence of -the disease is possibly increasing rather than diminishing. (4) Dysentery. Bacillary Dysentery.—This disease continues to be endemic amongst Europeans and natives, but the causal organisms have shown a significant variation in the last two years. Formerly, the pathogens concerned were, in the main, either members of the paradysentery group or B. dysentericc Flexner. Only rarely was B. dysentericc Shiga isolated. The report of the Public Health Laboratory, Salisbury, however, shows that during the recent dysentery season, 57 per cent, of the organisms isolated were identified serologically as B. dysentericc Shiga. These figures, of course, pertain only to Salisbury and its immediate environs, but suggest that at some recent date a Shiga “carrier” has been introduced into the community concerned. Chronic bacillary dysentery is met with most frequently amongst natives, but occasionally amongst Europeans. Amoebic Dysentery.—This form of dysentery occurs with much greater frequency than was hitherto supposed. During* the year 34 cases of active amoebic dysentery were reported from the Public Health Laboratory, Salis¬ bury, European cases numbering 14 and native cases 20. It appears that the apparent increase in the incidence of amoebic dysentery is due to the fact that practitioners are availing themselves to a great extent of the improved laboratory facilities placed at their disposal by the Government. At any rate, these figures clearly indicate the need for the careful laboratory investigation of all cases of dysentery before instituting treatment. Helminthic Dysentery.—Cases of recurrent dysentery or severe diarrhoea due to infections with S. mansoni are met with from time to time, chiefly amongst natives, but also amongst Europeans. (5) Leprosy'. The Government maintain two leprosy hospitals of practically equal size—one at N’gomahuru and one at Mtoko. In addition, Mnene Medical Mission, which is subsidised by the Government, has a leprosy section attached to its hospital. The leprosy hospitals are really large estates in which the patients’ mode of life approximates as nearly as possible to their natural conditions. The Leprosy Laws are in force, but these hospitals as far as is possible resemble voluntary institutions. The success of the Gov¬ ernment’s policy is indicated by the fact that the number of lepers under