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

  • Colombo (Sri Lanka). Public Health Department
Date:
[1921]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    9/80 page 7
    9.—Influenza. Only 191 deaths were ascribed to this cause during 1921, as against 253 in 1920, 421 in 1919, and an estimated number of about 1,000 in 1918. This disease, although markedly on the wane, still showed the usual tendency to recrudesce in two waves, one beginning in April and lasting during May and June, and the other beginning in November and carrying on into the succeeding year. It was not, as a rule, accompanied by serious complications, nor were its manifestations limited to any one type, a certain number of cases being reported to have assumed respectively the nervous, bronchial, and gastric types. The deadly pneumonic type, which was such a marked feature of the second great wave during 1918, was conspicuously absent. 10.—Diarrhceal Diseases. This group, which includes diarrhoea, enteritis, and dysentery, none of which are notifiable, was responsible for 831 deaths, representing a rate of 3*41 per 1,000, as against a rate of 3‘59 during the previous year. (a) Diarrhoea and Enteritis.—Deaths, 583 ; death-rate 2-39 per 1,000, as against 2*50 per 1,000 in the previous year. Much the highest death-rate from this cause occurred amongst the Malays. (b) Dysentery.—Deaths, 248 ; death-rate 1-02 per 1,000, as against 1*09 in the previous year. The Tamils, followed closely by the Sinhalese, had the highest death-rate from this cause. (15) Diarrhceal Diseases, 1921, by Race. Rate per 1,000 Population. All Euro- Races. peans. Burghers. Sinhalese. Tamils. Moors. Malays. Others, t ... /Deaths .. 583 . . 3 .. 31 .. 306 . . 123 .. 81 .. 25 .. 14 Diarrhoea and enteritis • • / Death-rate 2-39 .. 0-97 .. 2-12 .. 2-67 .. 2-24 .. 2-03 .. 4’25 .. 1-27 /Deaths .. 248 .. 1 .. 11 .. 124 .. 66 . . 32 . . 5 .. 9 Dysentery ••(Death-rate 1-02 .. 0-32 .. 0-75 .. 1-08 .. 1-20 .. 0-80 .. 0'85 .. 0-81 „ .. , . /Deaths .. 831 .. 4 .. 42 . . 430 .. 189 .. 113 . . 30 .. 23 All diarrhceal •' 1 Death-rate 3-41 .. 1*29 .. 2-87 .. 3-75 .. 3-44 .. 2-83 .. 5‘10 .. 2-08 11.—Fevers. Under this heading are included enteric fever, simple continued fever of not less than seven days’ duration, remittent and intermittent fevers, of which only enteric and simple continued fever are notifiable. This group caused a total of 400 deaths, representing a death-rate of 1‘64 per 1,000, as against a rate of 1'78 during the previous year. (a) Enteric Fever.—Cases, 572; deaths, 219; case mortality, 38 • 3 percent.; case-rate,2,34perl,000 of population ; death-rate, O’90 per 1,000 of population. This is a very great improvement compared with the previous year, when 879 cases, with 338 deaths, were reported. The ill-kept bucket latrine being, next to direct contact with infected cases, probably one of the most fruitful sources of infection in enteric fever, a special effort was made during the year to improve their condition by carrying out special latrine inspections in the poor quarters all over the town. The accompanying spot map shows the distribution of all known cases of enteric and simple continued fever, from which it will be seen that the incidence of continued fever tends to be specially high in the Maradana and Wellawatta areas. In the light, however, of subsequent knowledge in regard to the appearance of indigenous malaria in Colombo towards the end of the year, the distribution of these continued fever cases raises the suspicion that a number of them may have been malaria. (16) Fevers, 1921. Cases, Deaths, and Rates per 1,000 Population of each Race. Enteric fever Continued fever Remittent fever Intermittent fever All fevers f Cases J Case-rate f Deaths ( Death-rate C Cases J Case-rate ' ] Deaths ^Death-rate (Deaths 1 Death-rate / Deaths (Death-rate C Cases J Case-rate ‘ j Deaths (Death-rate All Races. Euro¬ peans. Burghers. Sinhalese. Tamils. Moors. Malays. Others. 572 15 60 . . 381 .. 46 .. 33 8 . 29 2-34 .. 4•86 .. 4-12 3*34 .. 0-84 .. 0-88 .. 1-36 . . 2-62 219 4 18 .. 144 . . 19 .. 20 2 . 12 0-90 .. 1-30 . . 1-23 1-26 .. 0-35 .. 0-50 .. 0-34 . . 1-09 200 ., — 16 .. 130 . . 28 .. 17 6 . 3 0-82 , . - . . 1-10 1-13 .. 0-51 .. 0-43 .. 1-02 . . 0-72 69 — 2 .. 45 .. 13 .. 7 . . — . 2 0-28 — .. 0-14 .. 0-39 .. 0-24 .. 0-18 . . — . . 0-18 112 2 5 .. 47 .. 25 .. 19 3 . 11 0-46 .. 0-65 .. 0-34 .. 0-41 .. 0-45 .. 0-48 .. 0-51 . . 1*00 — — .. — .. — .. — .. — . . — . . — _ — . . ' . • — .. — .. — .. — . . — 772 15 76 .. 511 .. 74 .. 50 14 . 32 3-16 .. 4-86 .. 5-22 .. 4-47 .. 1-35 1-31 .. 2-38 . . 3-34 400 6 25 .. 236 .. 57 .. 46 5 . 25 1-64 .. 1*95 .. 1-71 .. 2-06 .. 1-04 .. 1-16 .. 0-85 . . 2-27 (17) Fevers by W-ards, 1921. Cases and Case-rate per 1,000 Population. | c CB >> • 08 -+3 8 '-p 00 m <S CB cB es c3 o' si a o <B ptj si c8 S3 1 Cl ® A N cB PQ i T? 'w hH 4= • H Ph r*{ oB 1 cB -p Xfl PM cB p & c3 C <-> r-H 43 g_i o O fog -P PM S m -p’ m O M £ cS § 53 o M 1 o Ah Enteric Cases . 572. . 2.. 2. . 13. . 18. . 75. . 27. . 117. . 22. . 29. . 36. .12. fever Case -rate. .2-34. .-74. . •26. .113. . -77. .1-63. .1*16. .2-03. .1-02. .1-22. .1-35. • • • Continued Cases . 200. . -. . 1. 3. . 10. . 39. . 14. . 65. 9. 6. . 30. • ~ • fever Case-rate. .0-82. . -• • •13. . -26. . -43. . -84. . -60. .113. . -42. . -25. .1*13. • • AH fevers • ’ Cases . 772. . 2.. 3. . 16. . 28. . 114. . 41. . 182. . 31. . 35. . 66. .12. Case-rate. .3-16. .•74.. •39. .1-39. .1-20. .2-47. .1-76. .3-16. .1-44. .1-47. .2-48. .—. <D T5 *5 43 2 O TJ a> Q cS U 43 162..57 13..10 175..67
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