Annual report of the Public Health Department / Zanzibar Protectorate.

  • Zanzibar. Public Health Department.
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Public Health Department / Zanzibar Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (b) Infectious Diseases. No serious epidemic of any sort occurred during the year. The more important infectious diseases encountered during the last four years are summarized in the following table: — Cases. Deaths. Cases. Deaths. Cases Deaths. Cases. Deaths Enteric Group 7 1931 2 1932 4 6 1933 1934 8 y 3' Small-pox 13 1 — — 3 — — — Whooping cough 98 — 125 — 201 — 70 — Influenza 2,188 2 559 2 984 — 2,216 W — / Mumps 649 — 382 75 — 42 — Dysentery 151 6 130 9 73 5 69 — Leprosy 44 2 86 1 47 •2 50 11 Chickenpox 12 — 46 25 — 76 — Yaws 4,659 — 4,432 5,935 — 4.343 • — Tetanus 7 3 2 1 3 1 4 2 Tuberculosis 538 45 238 41 244 52 202 S 50 t Syphilis 428 3 446 3 440 2 446 4 Soft Chancre 58 — 46 67 — 44 — Gonorrhoea 1,734 2 1,775 1 1,662 2 1,698 — Enteric Group .—Six cases of Typhoid Fever and two of Paratyphoid were reported . Th cases and deaths occurring during the last Cases. Deaths. four years were: Cases. Deaths. Cases Deaths. Cases. Deaths Typhoid Fever 4 1931 1932 4 — 1933 5 1934 6 3 Paratyphoid A 1 — -— — 1 — 1 — Paratyphoid B 1 1 — __ — — 1 — Type undefined 1 1 — — — — — — Of this year’s cases all occurred in Zanzibar Town; in addition six cases were notified by private practitioners but none of these diagnoses were confirmed by laboratory investigation. Whooping Cough.—There was a decrease in the number of cases dealt with and there was no epidemic spread of the disease. Influenza.—The incidence of this disease increased considerable from 984 in 1983 to 2,216 in 1934. due to a mild epidemic which prevailed during the earlier part of the year. Few serious cases were met with and there were no deaths. Dysentery.— The incidence of dysentery decreased still further to 69, no deaths were recorded although 17 other cases' were notified by private practitioners. Leprosy.—A report on leprosy in the Protectorate is in Section III (h). Tuberculosis.—202 cases and 50 deaths were reported and of these 191 were pulmonary cases. The deaths notified as being due to tuberculosis in Zanzibar Town for the past 12 years are given below : — 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 185 167 132 45 138 190 125 91 57 54 52 34 Syphilis and Yaws.— -446 new cases of syphilis and 4,341: > of yaws were recorded during the year. The relative incidence of these two diseases is not yet fully known, but there are indications that syphilis is more common than has hitherto been suspected. Gono rrhoea.—1,698 new cases presented themselves for treatment. This figure, too, pro¬ bably does not reflect the true incidence of the disease as a, partial survey of the police and prisoners revealed the fact that nearly two-thirds of them were either suffering from acute or chronic gonorrhoea or gave a history of having done so. (c) Helminthic Diseases. Ancylostomiasis.—There was a slight increase in the number of cases dealt with—12,577 as compared with 12.488 in 1938. The disease is extremely insidious and people do not always seek relief for infestations with this parasite even when they are aware that they harbour it. Schistosomiasis.—An increase of cases from 736 in 1933 to 874 in 1934 were seen. The disease is discussed more fully in Section TIT.