Medical report / British Honduras.

  • British Honduras. Medical Department.
Date:
[1931]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Medical report / British Honduras. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    34/54 (page 22)
    Due to defective scavenging, flies were allowed to breed in large numbers with a resulting rapid spread of Dysentery. We had fourteen cases admitted to hospital, with two deaths, but this only represented a fraction of the number. The type was mainly Amoebic, some cases of mixed type occurred. They responded well to Emetine treatment. Sporadic out-breaks occurred following the subsidence of the first epidemic. It would seem that conditions are now normal. Pulmonary Phthisis.—Dr. Harwood’s excellent description of this disease in Stann Creek in 1927, applies to-day. As these patients are seldom admitted to hospital my only contact with them is mainly disinfection of houses after death, and the registration of reported cases. Venereal Diseases.—Very few seek hospital treatment here, they prefer to consult a private practitioner or go to the V. D. Clinic in Belize. I have no doubt that there is a fair number of cases here, but I seldom see any. RAINFALL. January .. 4.72 Inches February . . 1 44 99 March 1.46 99 April 8.87 99 Mav 1.03 99 June 9.55 99 July 9.92 99 August • o 9.61 99 September .. 18.43 99 October .. 21.50 99 November 9.46 99 December 5.51 99 101.50 Inches As the meteorological records are now kept by the District Commissioner, the above report is somewhat sketchy. General Sanitation.—With regards mosquito breeding, this has increased tremendously due to temporary suspension of oiling operations after the hurri¬ cane. The areas, both Government and private, overgrown with rank grass and bush, also interferes with efficient anti-malarial work. There are about 800 houses in this town with 170 water vats, the latter are screened and inspected regularly by the Sanitary Inspector. The main water supply of the population here is the Stann Creek River, and considering the difficulty in preventing pollution of this stream and the fact that no sterilization whatever is done, it is remarkable how few water¬ borne diseases occur.