Administration report / Public Health Department, Colombo Municipality.
- Colombo (Sri Lanka). Public Health Department
- Date:
- [1908]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Administration report / Public Health Department, Colombo Municipality. Source: Wellcome Collection.
27/64 page 21
![TABLE XXXVIII. SIMPLE CONTINUED FEVER, 1908—CASES NOTIFIED. Kace- Cases. Europeans ... ... jq Burghers ... ... 98 Sinhalese ... ... 14s lainils ... ... 35 Moors ... ... ]() Malays ... ... Others ... ... 3 'J'otal ... 244 Note. In seven cases notified as Simple Continued Fever the diagnosis was altered by the notifying physicians to Typhoid Fever. ultimately It will be seen from Table XXXVII. that the progressive reduction in the number of deaths ascribed to Simple Continued Fever has taken place in all races except the Europeans amongst whom it has never figured largely as a cause of deaths except in 1906, a year of unusual prevalence of Typhoid Fever. The reduction in the case of the Malays is the most striking example of the change which has occurred in this respect, the fact being that Typhoid has always been very pievalent amongst the Malays, but it is only within the last few years that the specific nature of their lll-ness has been recognised. It is pretty generally recognised amongst the Medical profession now that there is no such disease as Simple Continued Fever of over seven days duration and which frequently ends fatally, and an examination of the statistics indicates that before long this term will in all probability have practically disappeared from the returns. Over 50 per cent of all the cases notified in 1907, and 46 per cent in 1908, were notified by the same practitioner. 22. Remittent Fever. Deaths 49. Ratio 0‘27. Average for the previous 10 gears 1'04. Decrease 3-77 per 1,000. 9 The term Remittent Fever as commonly used, indicates a tj^pe of Malarial Fever. Much of the mortality ascribed in the past to Remittent Fever was almost certainly not Malarious at all but simply Typhoid Fever. There is very little if any Malarial Infection acquired in Colombo, there being an almost if not an entire absence of the Malaria carrying species of anopheles here. Certainly the Malays who for the most part live in Slave Island are less exposed than any other race to Malarial Infection, and yet in years gone by they have had more mortality ascribed to Remittent rever than almost any other race. As Table XXXIX. and Diagram V. show this disease has been rapidly decreasing as a certi¬ fied cause of deaths during the last year or two. The explanation here is the same as in the case of Simple Continued Fever, viz., it is being recognised that many of these cases of so called Remittent rever, are in reality Typhoid Fever and hence the Typhoid Fever, death-rate has been augmented as the result of the altered diagnoses. TABLE XXXIX. REMITTENT FEVER, 1898-1908. Death-rate of each race per 1,000 Population. Year. All races. Europeans. 02 1 Sh <D 1 A bi M 02 73 A Tamils. Moors. Malays. Others. 1898 1-52 0-00 0‘68 ri6 1 *93 2‘20 1*19 1*00 1899 F37 0-00 ro2 F21 F86 1*49 1*86 0’47 1900 0T3 0*00 0*50 076 117 1*32 1-58 0*22 1901 0-84 0 74 0*33 0'02 1*28 1*16 0-44 0*43 1902 ro3 0‘30 041 ro5 1*14 1*18 1*07 0*01 1903 ill 072 0‘49 roi 1 09 109 1*05 0*98 1901 099 0*85 0’24 1 *21 0-84 0*85 F64 F49 1905 0’97 0*35 0'48 1*01 1*06 U03 0'80 0'89 1900 roo O’OO 032 145 0 72 112 175 1*85 1907 0-61 0-33 0*39 0-61 0-60 0-62 0*50 1*11 Average 1898-1907 F04 0‘29 0A9 U01 1*17 F27 1*19 0*91 1908 0*27 0'60 070 0*21 0-29 0-34 0*55 0*30 —0*04 |](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31492058_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
